Chapter 2

Music was blaring in already took him off the case saying the Ripper was already testing his the apartment as Lucas tried to distract himself from the death of an old friend. As the song played Lucas sang along "Part of me is fighting this, but part of me is gone. Love me when I'm here, right me when I'm wrong. Hold me when I'm scared won't always be there so love me when I'm gone." He was singing in part, because Brooke was in Tree Hill, but mostly it was the death of one of his best friend.The captain questioned his sanity and quite possibly pushing him to the brink of the previously stated. The Captain also put him on a paid leave of absence stating that he needed to grieve. Lucas then walked out the door and went straight home. He had copied all the Ripper files to zip disk and would be spending his leave working. Lucas just stared at the casebook for hours, nothing new. Needing a break he turned to his own High School notebooks and started taking a trip down memory lane.

Lucas was the shy basketball player, who had the skills to change the game. Brooke was the highly flirtatious cheerleader to could have any guy she wanted. Somehow they fell for each other. Lucas thought back to the first date they had went on. He was the innocent young man and she had set her sights on him. Her exact words were "I enjoy corrupting America's youth." How she ever corrupted Lucas. That was the night of his first drink, and first tattoo She got both of them fake I.D.s and took him to a bar, he drunk to a stupor, and then he got a tattooThe tattoo on his arm was of a Japanese symbol .

That night led to the scariest night of their young lives as Brooke would later take a pregnancy test and it came up positive. Later when she went to the doctor to take a second test, it was also positive, but one day they had an argument, about how he was not certain anymore. Anyway she shouted and then collapsed to the floor in pain. She had miscarried the child. He left Tree Hill that night and always looked back. He blamed himself for the baby's death, and could not face Brooke. Fortunately the life he left in Tree Hill, came looking for him. When Brooke found him injured that night, she confided in him that she became a cop searching for him. Brooke also said she used department resources in Tree Hill to find him and then she transferred to Charelston.

Just as Lucas was enjoying his trip down memory lane the phone rang, It was from General Hospital. It was Haley calling (she is chief of staff at the hospital) to tell him Brooke had gotten back in town, and to tell him she had been attacked. He jumped into his truck and peeled out of the driveway without even bothering to buckle his seat belt. As he drove faster and faster, 35. 40. 45. 55. 65. He was 25 miles over the speed limit now but he didn't care. All he cared about was getting to Brooke. He didn't even care when he hit a telephone pole, he just got out of the truck and ran for the hospital. "Only a mile more," he kept telling himself. Lucas walked into the hospital and ran for Brooke's room. He reached into his jacket pocket. "You know, I've been carrying this around since you left for Tree Hill." he said as he opened the small velvet black box. He bent down on one knee so that he was at eye level with her next to the hospital bed. "Brooke Davis, will you marry me?" Tears filled Brooke's eyes and all she could do was nod as he slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed her.