And I still have these questions
Bridges will break
Should I go forwards or backwards
Night turns to day
And I still get no answers
Just a whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper
A whisper, whisper, whisper
Coldplay, A Whisper
These Strange Conditions1: In the Absence of Silence
IF YOU HAD TOLD HER that she was going to be a mother years ago, Brooke would have probably laughed. Motherhood, it seemed, was one of those things that her mother didn't have to pass a long to her. In fact, parenthood with parents that she had simply didn't come as an option.
Especially when you're seventeen, alone, and scared out of your mind.
But life liked to work miracles, big and small. She wasn't going to lie. Leaving Tree Hill and Lucas and moving to London to live with her grandparents at their bed and breakfast inn was probably one of the best choices she had ever made. She missed Lucas sometimes. There was a part of her that wondered about the what ifs and maybes. But she grew to be happy here in London. Her grandparents were wonderful in helping her get ready to have her baby and she went to school too, finishing high school and taking a year off for the baby. She applied to the University of Westminster and received degrees in French and French Literature, also getting the opportunity to start teaching at the university and finding a wonderful neighborhood to raise her daughter in.
Life's greatest miracle, however, came in the seven pound, nine-ounce form of her baby girl, Sarah Elizabeth. Motherhood was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her life had taken a complete one-eighty. It was the ultimate cliché, she supposed, but the ultimate truth. For she couldn't remember life without Sarah's laugh or the chocolate chip cookies that the two of them make every Sunday. Her daughter had taught her how to be alive.
Brooke was now twenty-seven, happy, and living her life.
"Mummy!"
She was startled out of her musings and looked up, recognizing the whirlwind known as her daughter sprinting towards her in her mud-clad school uniform.
"Oooff!" Brooke managed out as Sarah threw her arms around her neck. She smoothed back her daughter's hair. "Tell me you at least cleaned your shoes before you came inside. Gran spent the entire day cleaning. You know how she gets."
Sarah giggled. "I know. She wasn't paying any attention, mummy."
Brooke shook her head, her eyes sparkling. "And your uniform is dirty? Didn't I just wash this last night."
"I was helping Grandpapa and James outside. Some American tourists got trapped in the mud. Grandpapa says they're stupid, but I helped to push!"
She laughed at her daughter's enthusiasm. Always the inquisitive one, she mused. Probably from Lucas' side. "Do they need help, love?"
Sarah nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh. Jamie said to come in and get you because you do school work too much. Grandma said to go get you because she thinks one of them is single."
Brooke rolled her eyes. Her Grandmother meant well. She really did. But every now and then she would through a curve ball of the opposite sex towards her. James, one of the hired help and good friend, had been a victim of her Grandmother's manipulation.
"Your Grandmother's too nosy, darling girl. Go upstairs and change," she tapped Sarah on the nose playfully. "I want to see you doing your school work when I came back in. And make sure that you bring your uniform down."
Her daughter pouted. "Do I have too?"
Brooke laughed. "Yes. And maybe if you're good, we can watch a movie?"
Sarah let out an excited whoop and flew off her mother's lap and upstairs. Brooke shook her head. The hyperactivity definitely came from her side of the family. She grabbed a sweater and put on her boots, making her way outside.
It had been raining heavily for days. Nothing like the hurricane season in the Carolinas, but it rained in London, it poured. She was glad that the university had decided to cancel class today.
"Brooke, do you know where your grandfather keeps his extra shovels?"
She shook her head at her grandmother. "No, Jamie probably knows."
"Could you go ask him?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Whatever you're planning, Gran. I'm not interested."
Her grandmother smirked impishly. "This old woman? Brooke, love, my match making days have been over for years."
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."
Brooke made her way outside, pulling her sweater closer. The rain had stopped, it seemed, but the mud looked terribly thick and it was freezing outside.
"Brooke!" A tall dark-haired and handsome man waved her over. "Could use some that hidden strength you have in those legs of yours!"
She laughed and stuck her tongue out at James. "You're supposed to be the big, strong man, Jamie. What happened?"
She spotted her grandfather huddle with a small group of tourists, most likely offering them a place to stay for the night. The car must really be stuck, she mused.
"Brooke Davis! Don't make me beg!"
She was about to turn and give James a nasty reply when she froze. From the group of five, a tall man stepped out. His dirty blonde hair fell into his eyes, whose intensity she could feel from miles away. But it was the old Scott's Body Shop sweatshirt that sealed the deal.
She trembled. "Lucas..."
And then everything was black.
TBCA/N: This story is just too much fun. Never fear though. Chapter six of the Makings of a Resolution will be posted as late as Sunday.
Serious Fan: There is a method to my madness. Remember Lucas is a teenager too and at the end of To Wish Impossible Things he's not exactly in the happiest of mindsets.Ann: He'll learn. That's why we make mistakes.
