Brooke approached the table like it was a tiger ready to strike

Disclaimer: I own nothing IaHB related.  Yeah, we've all seen this sort of disclaimer before.

Note:  Many, many thanks to Bea for being my beta reader for this chapter.  I would have been truly lost without you, oh great Jedi writer.  And for D.C., Mo' and Bea: July is good for me for our little 'excursion'.  DC how is the soundproofing of your basement going?  (Again, people, it is an inside joke.) 

K, thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed so far.  You guys have been absolutely wonderful.  And don't forget to review this chapter, k?  Thanks lots. 

A dark cloud of gloom seemed to hover over the table in the center of the room.  It rumbled and roared and every once in a while, Brooke thought she saw a lightning bolt or two flicker in its midst.  The people under the cloud seemed oblivious to its presence; they were too caught up in their own saddened state to care about the symbolic cloud that they had created.  They sat in different postures, trying to look comfortable, relaxed and happy.  They all failed miserably.

Val sat up, her back as straight as it could go.  Her hands were in her lap, fiddling with the small ring she wore on her right ring finger.  She looked about the room as if searching for something, anything to get her mind off of the person that sat next to her.  She had to overwhelming urge to look at him, but she tried not to.  It wouldn't do to be reminded of the person she could not be with. 

But, she did want just a little peek.  Just to see what he was doing.  It wouldn't hurt anything, would it?  It would only be a little peek.  She'd look real quick and then look away before he could catch her eye.  No big deal, right?  Val steeled herself and then, without moving her head at all, turned her eyes to look to the left of her.   

Tyler sat next to Val.  He played with the corner of his folded napkin and wished that he had never come to the reunion in the first place.  It would have been so easy, he thought in hindsight, to have just thrown the invitation in the garbage as soon as I got it.  But, no, I had to come and see her. 

He was painfully aware of the fact that she sat right next to him.  She was like a beacon to him, calling to him even though no words were spoken.  He tried his best not to look at her.  Looking at her would only remind him of what could have been.  Tyler looked at the person sitting on his left instead.

Hank looked as if his best friend had died.  He stared deep into the clean dinner plate that was in front of him as if it would somehow tell him how to make everything all better.  It was somewhat ironic in a way.  Hank had spent his whole career trying to save people, fixing them up and making them all better.  But, when it came down to it, he couldn't even fix himself. 

He wanted Melanie, needed her.  Life, he knew, would not be the same without her anymore.  Hank could just picture himself sitting in his office after the reunion.  He would not be the same person if he left on bad terms with Melanie.  Hank knew Melanie had changed him in a way that there was no going back from.  And therefore, picturing himself in his office was suddenly a bleak picture.  I don't want her to leave me, Hank said in his mind over and over again.  He wondered what she was thinking of at that moment.

Melanie's mind was on fire.  She was still angry, but she tried very hard not to show it.  She had leaned back against the back of her chair and had sat very, very still.  Her eyes flicked this way and that, every once in a while landing on Hank to give him a dirty look.  Yes, she wanted him to know that she was mad at him.  After all, he was the cause of her annoyance.

She still was perturbed to the utmost degree by the things Hank had said in his room.  We were not kidding ourselves, she told herself fiercely.  And it can work out.  She wondered if he really felt as he had said or not.  Was there any possibility that his actions in his room were just a front for how he really felt?  Men, Melanie thought.  They are so incredibly annoying.  Melanie looked at the person sitting next to her and wondered how he could seem so relaxed.

Jamie was slumped in his chair, pretending to be so relaxed.  He looked around nonchalantly as if nothing was wrong.  Inside, though, everything was wrong.  Caitie was sitting next to him.  She was so close that he could have reached out and touched her, but he was afraid to.  He was afraid to do anything involving Caitie, even talk to her.  The idea that Caitie was not going to be with him scared him more than anything.

And he kept looking at her, trying to drink her image into his memory.  He did not ever want to forget what she looked like.  Every time his eyes would fall on her face, though, Jamie felt as if he died a little more inside.  Man, he would miss her so much.  He turned to look at her again.

Caitie stared at Jamie.  She wished the nervousness in her stomach would leave.  It was such an unpleasant feeling.  She just wished that Jamie wasn't going to leave her the next day.  But, how could she make him stay with her?  How could she tell him that Melanie's words had made her understand what was really important to her?  She didn't want to leave him at all.

It was all too much for her to comprehend.  She had definitely not been looking for a relationship with Jamie when she had come to the reunion.  All she had wanted to do was convince herself that she had had only a silly crush on him in high school.  Falling for him all over again was simply a perk of coming.  Except, at that moment as Caitie stared at him and saw the overwhelming sadness in his eyes, the perk seemed more like a curse.

 

……………………………………

Brooke approached the table like it was a tiger ready to strike.  The occupants of the table were in a rather grim mood, she knew, and it would not do to scare them right off with too much peppiness.  No, this must be perfect, Brooke thought.  Everything must go according to plan.

Brooke knew that her plan could go one of two ways.  It could be a huge success.  Then all of the people at the little table would leave the dinner in pairs.  Or it could be a huge flop, in which all of her favorite people would probably end up more depressed than before.  Of course, Brooke hoped it would be a success. 

She wanted to see these people happy.  They had always been such a big part of her life and each of them deserved a little happiness in his/her own life.  All this stuff about living separate lives after the reunion is nonsense, she thought as she neared the table.  They have done the whole separate lives thing.  Now, it is time to be together. 

She knew that all they needed was a little reminder of how they felt for each other.  They just needed to remember what it was like when they first realized they loved the other one.  And Brooke was just the person to help them with that. 

"Well guys," she said, coming to a stop next to Val's side at the table.  Six pairs of eyes turned her way, each of them mirrors of the next.  Yes, they were definitely in need of some cheering up.  "I have to say that it is so good to see you guys again.  I mean, I haven't seen any of you for so long.   

She looked around the table and smiled at each frown.  Soon, she thought to herself, those frowns will disappear.  Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their chairs.  Well, at least she hoped that the frowns would disappear.

The cloud of gloom overhead rumbled again.

"There's Val, who is the head of a big corporation."  She looked at her sister.  "I bet that whole competitive nature really comes in handy there."

Val tried to smile, but found that she couldn't really manage it.  She looked up at her sister and tried hard not to look at Tyler, who sat right next to her.  Was it her imagination or was he looking at her?  She wished that she could look just once to see where his eyes were, but she was afraid to.  What if he is looking at me, she thought.  It will just make it worse to know he's thinking of me.

"Hey," Brooke said, breaking into Val's thoughts.  Val turned her attention back to her sister.  "Do you remember that bottle and can drive where you were so competitive with Jamie and Caitie?"

Val turned in her seat and looked at Jamie.  She had really hurt him bad that time, when she had questioned his character.  She had even called him a bonehead, something that she had regretted instantly when she had found out that he had been standing right behind her when she had said it.  The whole bottle and can drive incident had made her realize that she was a bit hyper-competitive. 

Caitie and Jamie both smiled at her and for the first time since arriving at the dinner, Val smiled back.  She would have bet her entire corporation that they were remembering everything that had happened then too. 

"We almost didn't win that thing because of the stupid Spreewell preps," Caitie mentioned.

"Yeah, if it hadn't been for the video tape in the back of Hank's car, we would have been sunk," Val added.

A round of smiles graced the table as all of its occupants remembered how Val had found the instructional video in the back of Hank's car.  The squad had then told the guys from Spreewell that the tape was from the surveillance camera at the station.  The Spreewell can-stealers had been a bit nervous then and had wanted nothing more than to get their hands on the tape.  Too bad it was really an instructional video on how to get rid of medical waste.  Of course, the boys from Spreewell never knew that until after the squad got their cans back.

Hank chuckled, remembering how stupid the boys from Spreewell had been.  "Well, we almost didn't get them back, even with the video.  If it hadn't have been for those girls putting paper hearts on the cans that they colleted for Tyler….."

He let the statement hang in the air and everyone laughed.  Val turned to look at Tyler, forgetting that just moments ago she had been afraid to even meet his eye.  In that second of time, she forgot all about not getting too close.  She forgot all about the fact that she would be leaving tomorrow.  They were just as they had been in high school.  Tyler and Val.  No problems whatsoever.

"Yeah," she said, teasingly, "Tyler's little fan club came to our rescue."

Another laugh circled the table and Brooke smiled.  Was it working, she wondered.  Was it really working?  She looked at Tyler, whose face had turned a bit red.  He was staring at Val in a bit of wonderment.  Brooke's smile deepened.  It appeared that it was working just fine.

A small portion of the gloom cloud slowly disappeared into the air.

Tyler laughed.  "Well, don't forget, I had to spend time with them at the mall after that."

Brooke smiled again, deviously this time.  That, she knew, was her cue.  "Yeah, you were always doing great things for your friends.  Remember when you gave Val that Leprechaun good luck charm when our dad was in the hospital?"

Tyler and Val stared at each other quietly as if seeing something only they could see.  Perhaps, Brooke thought, they are reliving the moment from so many years ago when he gave her that awful thing.

"I still have it," Val said quietly.

Tyler smiled, a bit surprised.  "You kept it?  I didn't think you would."

Val returned his smile with one of her own.  A warm feeling was starting to grow within her.  She didn't know exactly where it came from or what exactly it meant, but it was there.  She liked the feeling, though.  It was something that she hadn't felt before.  But, she thought contently, it was something she definitely could get used to.

"I keep it on the desk in my office."

Slowly, Tyler reached over and touched Val's hand.  She started to pull her hand away and then stopped as if she thought better of it.  She smiled shyly, and then spread out her fingers so that Tyler could fit his own in between.  Brooke watched as Tyler interlaced his fingers with Val and they stared at each other as if nothing was wrong at all.

One pair down, Brooke thought.  She looked at Jamie and Caitie, who were watching Val and Tyler with slight interest.  The sadness in both of their eyes had not faded yet and Brooke wondered if she would be able to succeed with this couple.  Val and Tyler were so easy, she thought suddenly.  Jamie and Caitie might be a bit harder.  But, Brooke was willing to try anyway.

"So, Caitie is a writer now," she said, directing everyone's attention to Caitie.  The young author squirmed a bit in her chair at all the attention.  "You know, I always had a feeling you would be, especially after that whole writing contest fiasco."

Caitie smiled and looked at her best friend in the whole world.  She remembered well how she and Val had entered the same contest, not knowing that the other had entered.  She had been so upset that Val would take over the one thing that Caitie could do well.  Caitie had worked hard on her essay about who was an inspiration to her.  It was just one of life's ironies when Caite and Val found out that they had written about each other.  But, in the end, it had worked out fine because neither of them had won the contest.       

"I never would have stayed in the contest at all if it hadn't been for Jamie telling me that I should," Caitie said, turning her gaze to meet Jamie's.  Jamie smiled, and put his arm around the back of Caitie's chair. 

"Yeah, well it was a good essay.  And besides," he said, a cocky grin forming on his lips, "that Tim Doherty is such an apple polisher."

Everyone laughed at Jamie's perfect imitation of what Caitie always said in high school.  Caitie turned and smacked Jamie on the arm, playfully.  In Caitie's opinion, it was true, though.  Tim Doherty had ended up winning the contest because he had written about the teacher being an inspiration to him.  A true apple polisher, indeed.

Brooke smiled.  This was just too easy.  "Yeah, and remember Billy?  He was a great guy, wasn't he Caitie?"

Caitie rolled her eyes and shook her head.  There were many adjectives that she could think of to describe Billy and 'great' was not one of them.  She had really liked him, though.  At least, that was until she found out that he was only using her to make his father and stepmother mad at him.  See, Billy thought that if he told his father he was dating Caitie, he would be so upset that he would send him to live with his mother.  Yet, the plan had backfired when Caitie had found out the truth and had paid his father and stepmother a little visit.

"Yeah, he was a real gem," Caitie said in her usual sarcastic tone.

"He really used you, didn't he?  I mean, he was even dating someone else at the time he was pretending to date you."  Brooke finished her statement and watched as Jamie sat up a bit straighter in his chair and leaned a bit more towards Caitie.  His arm still lay protectively around the back of her chair.

Brooke, though, was not the only one to notice Jamie's reaction to her words.

"You know, Jamie wanted to beat this guy up for you," Hank mentioned, watching as surprise graced Caitie's face.  He was surprised Jamie hadn't told Caitie about that part a long time ago.  "Yeah, Tyler and I both had to hold him back from going after the guy."

"I hated that guy," Jamie said darkly, his eyes narrowed as if he were remembering exactly what Billy had done to his Caitie.  Caitie looked at him, waiting to hear what he would say next.  Jamie shrugged.  "He was being a jerk to you and I didn't like it. I didn't like how he was treating you."

It was nice, in Caitie's opinion, to know that Jamie had cared for her that much, even then.  She wondered vaguely just when it was that he had started liking her as more than just friends.  Was it then?  Or was it sometime before that?      

Caitie smiled at Jamie and a bit of his dread fell away.  He loved her smile, even though it was usually followed with some rather tart remark.  Jamie remembered how annoying it had been when he had seen Caitie smile like that at Billy.  Man, that guy was such a jerk, Jamie thought.  He stared at Caitie, noticing that the sadness in her eyes had softened a bit into something else.  He wanted to think that he knew what the look in her eyes meant, but he didn't want to hope too much.  It's just your imagination, he told himself harshly.  She knows as well as you do that she is leaving tomorrow.  But, still, as Caitie moved her chair a bit closer to Jamie's own, he couldn't help but hope that the next day would never come.  Jamie edged closer to her and moved his arm that was draped over the back of her chair so that his fingers rested on the shoulder farthest from him.  He squeezed her shoulder lightly and then smiled back at her.

A large piece of the cloud of gloom suddenly dissipated into the air.  It was much smaller now, Brooke noticed.  Only a tiny bit of it remained and it seemed to be congregating right over the heads of Hank and Melanie.  Thunder rumbled within the cloud.  Ah yes, Brooke thought warily, the real challenge is those two. 

She wasn't sure how she was going to handle the Melanie/Hank situation.  It had been so easy with Tyler and Val and Jamie and Caitie.  They had practically been begging for help with their relationship.  All she had had to do was remind them of times when they had been the closest in high school.  No big deal whatsoever.  Yet, Melanie and Hank were different.  They were both quieter about their relationship since it had just seemed to literally bloom overnight.  But, Brooke could tell that Melanie was mad at Hank for something.  Heck, anyone within a fifty-mile radius could have been able to tell that.  She kept looking at Hank every few minutes and giving him dark looks. 

Brooke wondered what it was that Hank had done.  She imagined he had said something stupid, something that would have made Melanie so very upset.  But, what could it have been?  Brooke was not a mind reader and she was having enough trouble as it was not laughing at them.  Jeez, she thought as she watched Melanie shoot Hank another dark look and Hank bow his head in return, they are acting like a married couple. 

I guess we know who is in charge in that relationship, she thought, smirking.  And then another thought flitted across her mind.  Brooke's mind grabbed hold of it before it could get away and she smiled as an idea formed in her head.  What if…, she thought to herself.  If Melanie has a temper, she thought deviously, she might get jealous easily as well.  Of course, there was only one way to find out.

"You know, Hank," Brooke started slowly, "I saw Jasmine a little while ago.  She looked really nice and she was asking about you."

"Yeah?"  Hank asked, not really interested.  Sure, Jasmine was a nice girl and all that, but he didn't want to see any other girl.  The only person he wanted to see was the girl sitting next to him, shooting him dark looks.  He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he was afraid to tell her that now. 

"Yeah, you should go find her and talk with her.  Who knows?  Maybe you guys will end up spending the rest of the reunion together," Brooke said, watching not Hank, but Melanie very closely.

Melanie narrowed her eyes and stared at the dinner plate before her.  She crossed her arms over her chest and then mumbled under her breath, "over my dead body."

She looked around to see if anyone had heard her, but the other two couples at the table were already in their own little world.  It must be nice, Melanie thought and then the image of Hank and Jasmine together entered her mind.  She gritted her teeth.

No, Melanie thought.  There is no way that Hank was going to end up spending the rest of his time at the reunion with Jasmine.  Melanie had spent most of high school trying in vain to be the girl's friend.  And one day, she really thought that they had gotten rather close.  That was, of course, before Jasmine told Melanie that Melanie was not cool enough to hang out with her.  Apparently, Jasmine had seen Melanie as Hank had seen Melanie in high school- just one big pain in the butt.

Melanie had never liked Jasmine since that time and she was NOT going to let Hank hang out with the girl as if they were best friends or something of the sort.  Melanie's blood boiled at the thought that Hank might be smiling at someone else that night.  That he might actually leave her and be with someone else.

Slowly, the anger seemed to melt away as she realized what she was afraid of.  It wasn't the fact that Han had thought her job would separate them that had gotten her so mad.  And it was not the fact that he had acted all macho when he had told her.  It was simply the fact that he had voiced what she was thinking.  She had been too scared to say it before.  She had been too scared that she would lose him for good if she asked him what would happen after the reunion.  And now, he had beaten her to the quick.  He had voiced her fear loud and clear.  Melanie did not want to lose Hank. 

She turned to him, so much fear and hurt in her eyes.  It was almost like the homecoming dance all over again.  She had to act strong as she had then, didn't she?  She had to act as if it all did not bother her in the least, didn't she?  Show them what a good sport you are, she had told herself the night of the dance after talking with Hank.  Don't let them see the tears.  But now, the tears were already threatening to come.

"I'm still mad at you," she said through watery eyes.  Her voice lacked the determined quality it had before and it was hard for Hank to really believe that she was mad at all.   

"Mel," he started and then stopped when he saw the first tear run down her cheek.  Hank leaned closer to her, a brushed the lonely tear away with the pad of his thumb. 

Melanie sat up straight and sniffed once.  She pushed her hair out of her face and tried to calm herself.  She had wanted to show Hank how mad she was and this not helping at all.  And if she looked over there once more and saw his brown puppy dog eyes looking at her with so much concern……….

Melanie took a deep breath.  "I'm fine.  Really, I am," she said, smiling slightly at Hank to show that the spunky Melanie was still there.  Don't let them see your tears, her mind whispered.  "Everything is fine."

Hank smiled sadly.  He wished that Melanie's words were true.  He really, truly wished that everything was fine just then.  And he wished that everything was going to be fine the next day and the day after that.  But, in actuality, nothing was fine.  Hank knew this way too well.

"No, Mel, it isn't fine," he whispered and then he leaned forward just a bit to kiss her softly.

Brooke grinned as she looked around the table.  Tyler and Val were looking at each other shyly, as if they were on their first date.  Caitie and Jamie stared at each other wordlessly, lost in their own little world.  And Melanie and Hank?  Brooke was the happiest with that couple.  They were kissing as if tomorrow didn't matter. 

The cloud of gloom had disappeared completely.

"So, does anyone want to tell me what they want to drink tonight?"  She asked and was happy when she got absolutely no response. 

"Does anybody remember the time that Jamie gave mouth to mouth to a dead dog?"  She tried again.  And again there was no answer.  In fact, there was no indication that any of the three couples had heard a word she had said.

Brooke took one last look around the table and then walked away slowly, the grin still plastered on her face.  "I rock," she whispered as she made her way through the maze of tables to the kitchen.  She couldn't wait to call Alex and tell him what she had done.  "Mission accomplished." 

 

K, well, only one more chapter to go.  The last chapter will be about what happens the next morning when they all are ready to leave the reunion.  I really, really want to get this done before I leave for vacation on Saturday.  But, if I don't, it will definitely be up when I get back in about two weeks. 

So, what did you guys think of this chapter?  Don't forget to review.  Thanks.