Chapter 4

Snow and fireplaces, not always so romantic.

The snow had been falling pretty profusely for the past couple hours but Brooke and Lucas were too caught up in their argument to even notice the extreme change in weather. In the two hours since the fighting began, over nine inches of snow had fallen from the gray North Carolina sky. Brooke paced back and forth through the living room of Karen Roe while Lucas tentatively remained on the edge of the couch.

Walking around the room Brooke shook her head, pushed her hands deep into the pockets of her army green cargo pants and said, "You better be damn glad that Lilia is not here to see this." She pulled her right hand out of her pocket and scratched her shoulder.

"Why?" Lucas asked leaning so far forward in his seat he was practically squatting, "If she was here she could see how insane her mother is." He watched her mouth drop and then quickly closed. She walked toward the room where she and Lilia were staying in.

Lucas followed after her and tried to get in the room. Brooke pushed as hard as she could to close the door; she failed and Lucas entered. "Please just leave me alone." She said, climbing onto the bed and covering her head with a pillow.

He pulled the pillow away from her. The scowl on her face made Lucas even more angry with her. "Damnit Brooke," He said. He was angry. He never cursed at Brooke. This was different; he had just about had enough of her not trusting him. "I already said I didn't know she was coming in town."

She rolled her eyes and hit on across the face with a pillow. "That is such a lie and you know it. All those nights when your phone was busy... you were talking to her. I knew you were." She said jumping off the bed and back into the living room.

Following close behind her, pillow in hand, Lucas said, "Do you hear yourself? You have lost it." He threw the pillow at her.

She caught it and threw it to the ground. "Don't even try to make this about me now! This is about you and you're lying to me... again. Doesn't that ever get old to you? Lying I mean."

"Now we are back to this." He moaned throwing his arms in the air and slowly sitting down on in his favorite seat on the couch. He rested his hands on his knees and slowly shoot his head. His hat fell to the floor.

"Didn't you expect it to?" Brooke asked, now sitting across from him. "It always does, but if you hadn't screwed up we wouldn't have anything to go back to now would we?"

She was so conniving. Throughout all of high school, no one messed with Brooke Davis. Everyone knew she could dish it, but no one knew whether or not she could take it. That was until Peyton found out that... yes, she can do both. She was hoping to ruin Peyton's life until she finally came to her senses thanks to Lucas.

He had always been there for her when she needed him, except the day that she needed him more than ever. The day their daughter was born. But that was his fault, and he would admit it, now. The biggest mistake he ever made was bringing Peyton to the hospital when Brooke was having Lilia. He thought about it almost every night. Some nights he would think about how stupid he was to hurt Brooke. Lately he had stopped thinking about it, but that was until he saw Peyton again.

Everything came back to him when he saw her. All the nights they spent together, the way her curly tendrils fell on his face when she laid on top of him, the way her cold hands felt on his bare skin. Anything that had ever been between them was purely physical. There is no way that Lucas could or would ever feel the same things for Peyton that he felt for Brooke. If he had to pick between the two it would come down to this: Brooke would be the one he would be happy with and spend the rest of his life with, having children, pets and a white picket fence. Peyton would be the one who would keep him crazy and young. They would have the best sexual relationship anyone could ever experience. Unlike the average college guy, he preferred the pets and picket over the feral sex.

"Fine," He finally gave in, "I didn't tell you because you already didn't want to come home..."

Brooke, aggravated, quickly butted in, "This is not my home!" She stood up and threw her hands to her sides.

Lucas did the same and said, "Well, Brooke, where is your home then?"

She slumped back into her chair and felt the tears fill her eyes. Looking up at Lucas, she said, "With..."

Brooke's thought was interrupted by an opening door. In walked the last person either of them wanted to see. "Damn it is a bitch out there." She dropped her scarf when she saw the two; Brooke crawled in a ball in a chair near tears and Lucas, red faced and downtrodden. "Hope I am not interrupting."

"On no. We were actually just talking about you." Brooke said as she stood up from her seat and walked toward Peyton.

Peyton opened her mouth to speak but all she could get out before she was interrupted by Brooke was, "Brooke, I'm sor..."

"You can say you are sorry if it is going to make you feel better but it doesn't do a damn thing for me." She walked into the kitchen pored herself a glass of water. After taking a long drink, she looked up at Lucas and then back at Peyton who were now also in the kitchen.

"Come on Brooke," Lucas said trying to put his hand on her back. She pushed it off. "Just give her a chance."

Brooke threw the plastic cup into the sink and quickly turned around. "Why are you always defending her Lucas? Why didn't you get her knocked up?"

"Brooke..." Peyton tried to say.

"Peyton, no." Its not an issue of sides Brooke and the pregnancy statement was out of line." He pointed his finger at her. She hated that it made her feel like a child and that is exactly why he did it, because she was acting like a child. "OUT OF LINE!"

Peyton looked up from the floor and said, "I didn't come over here to screw things up, really. I just..."

She was interrupted by a severe weather alert on the television. Across the bottom of the screen, a warning read: NewsFlash: All residents are to stay put. The governor of North Carolina has issued a Severe Weather Warning for Tree Hill and all surrounding areas. The newscaster came on and said, "People stay in your house and build a fire... it's gonna be a long night."

Lucas' mouth seemed to drop to the floor. He closed his eyes tightly and then slowly opened them, hoping that this was all a dream, a nightmare. When his eyes opened, they were both still there. Peyton and Brooke stood on either side of him, hands on hips. This is going to be a long, long night.