Brooke sat in the driver's seat of her BMW idly tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. The drive to New Haven, Connecticut from her New York City apartment had been a long one made even longer by the slow moving traffic. She double checked the address of her destination but the familiar sight of the silver, six speed LS 430 Lexus already confirmed she was in the right place. Brooke sat for a few minutes silently cursing the meeting that had brought her there.
"Mrs. Scott, I had my secretary forward you a rough draft of what we intend to ask for in the settlement from Mr. Scott. We are going to ask for a lump sum of 45 million dollars as well as ownership of the Greenwich, Connecticut estate, that is valued at 3.7 million dollars. Also once the child is born, we seek full and permanent custody and a child support rate of 20,000.00 per month that will equal to the amount of 240,000.00 a year. A pretty heft sum for one stupid night, huh? What do you think?"
Brooke looked over at the man she had hired to represent her in her divorce. Phillip Bassi had a reputation as one of the finest, toughest and most expensive divorce lawyers in the country. He was a shark, guaranteed to waltz out of court with a large cash settlement and anything else his clients so desired. And now the shark was in front of her, million dollar smirk so visible on his face as he promised her the world.
"Sure, Mr. Bassi", Brooke grinned. "I think my soon to be ex husband is going to get exactly what he deserves."
But underneath the confident grin, the perfect hair and make up and a designer suit lay doubt. Money. That's what it had all of a sudden come down to and the very thought made Brooke ill.
"One more thing, Mrs. Scott and I just want you to know that this divorce is going to get messy. Oh in all my years I have seen them get pretty ugly, especially when such large sums of money are at stake. Now I sympathize with you and with everything that man has put you through. I want you to come out on top and take him to the cleaners…believe me, we will but there is one thing I think we ought to do first."
"What's that?"
"In order to win this game, it might require a bit of playing by his rules. I know very well the legal counsel your husband has hired to represent him. Trust me when I say they will have a ton of tricks up their sleeves so we have to beat them to the punch so to speak."
"And how do we do that? What are you getting at, Mr. Bassi?"
"I am saying, Mrs. Scott that it is in your best interest to attend one or two of those counseling sessions with your husband."
"I absolutely will not! There is no way…"
"Mrs. Scott, please let me finish. I know this is something you don't want to do but in my professional experience and opinion, I've found that this type of maneuver will only work to our advantage. Now what are a few hours here and there listening to the cretin pour out his heart and soul to some shrink? Just think of the end result. You and your child are financially set for life and more importantly, he'll be out of both your lives. He's punished and he suffers and you come out the big winner. Now what do you say, Mrs. Scott?"
Brooke took a deep breath as she entered the building. Deep down, she had a bad feeling about it all. Lucas had been wrong in his actions but now she was being no better.
"So", Brooke heard the doctor's voice say. "You're going to be a new father soon, Lucas. How do you feel about that?"
He was facing away from her but she could only imagine the smile on his face. His voice completely changed when he talked about their child.
"It's pretty exciting. I mean, I'm really happy. Brooke and I went through a lot to make this pregnancy happen and I'm glad it did. Even if we're not together and she doesn't want to be a family like we planned, I'm still glad we're gonna have this kid."
"What are you most looking forward to?"
"Everything", Lucas said honestly. "If it's a little girl, I have the feeling that I'll be way too protective. I mean, she'd definitely turn out to be a real daddy's girl. And if we have a boy, I just want to spend time with him and teach him how to be a man. Ride bikes, play catch…all that stuff my Old Man never bothered doing with me."
Brooke's hand instinctively touched her stomach as Lucas' words touched her heart.
"In our previous sessions we've talked about how important it is that you spend time with and be a father to your child. How do you feel the impending divorce with your wife will affect all this?"
Lucas sighed and looked down at the floor for a few minutes before speaking.
"I don't know. Honestly, Doc, I don't know how this is all gonna pan out once the baby gets here. I do know that Brooke hates me. That's about the only sure thing I do know right now. And who could blame her? Every time we see each other she either yells, cries, or hits me and sometimes all of the above. I know us fighting all the time won't be good for a kid and trust me, I wouldn't want our child to see that. Then on the other hand, I worry about Brooke being a single mom and me being a single dad. See, I believe children need both parents together in their lives. Family is very important to me and I didn't have that growing up. It was just me and my mother. And Mom was a great mom and she busted her ass and basically put her life on hold to make sure I had things and was happy. I will always love and respect her for that but at the same time, I have so much animosity and resentment towards my father, Dan, for not being there. I don't want to be that guy, that absentee parent. I don't want to be Dan Scott."
Brooke pulled herself together and knocked on the door. She had been eavesdropping for way too long and Luke's confessions and fears were really starting to get to her.
"Ma'am, may I help you?" the counselor asked.
"Brooke", Lucas said, surprised as he stood with bated breath.
"Hello", Brooke said calmly as she shook the doctor's hand and ignored her husband. "I am Brooke Davis Scott."
"Dr. Benjamin Parker is the name. I'm glad you could join us. Please have a seat, Mrs. Scott", Dr. Parker offered as the three sat down to an awkward silence. "Lucas and I were just talking about the upcoming birth of your child in six months. It must be a very thrilling yet nervous time for you. Would you care to share your feelings on that with Lucas and myself?"
"No", she responded adamantly.
"No?"
"Look, I'm only here on the advice of my attorney. He said it would make things easier. That's all I'm concerned about. So I'm really not interested in sharing feelings or Lucas' feelings or your feelings or any of that Dr. Phil shit."
She was angry and annoyed but Dr. Parker simply nodded at her outburst.
"Very well. Just sit back and relax and Lucas and I will continue on. Now where were we…oh. Lucas, you were talking about the baby. Now I wanted to ask, what is the one thing for you that will be most exciting and special with you and your son or daughter?"
Lucas felt slightly uncomfortable with Brooke in the room practically staring daggers at him but he took a deep breath and said his peace anyway. His words were from the heart.
"I think for me, the best thing is when I get to meet my child for the first time", Lucas said. "When I get to hold him or her and look into its eyes and see a piece of me…and a part of Brooke. Just knowing that child is ours and it is something I helped to create that is totally separate from me but at the same time is still me…well, I think that's pretty amazing."
"Okay", Dr. Parker said as he furiously scribbled notes. "Now what is the worst thing? When it comes to being a parent and being a part of this child's life, what do you think will be the worst or hardest part?"
"Honestly? Man, I think about this everyday too. I remember growing up in Tree Hill and stuff and every once in a while I'd run into Dan or my step mother, Deb, or my brother, Nathan. And I used to hate it, especially when I saw Dan. But every time we came face to face, even when I was a little boy, I'd always stare him down like a man. I'd look right in his eyes and he'd eventually look away and I'd end up hating him even more. You know, that really bothered me because I didn't look at him and see a father. I…I saw nothing. And he wasn't even man enough to sit down and explain it to me. That really sucked looking at from the abandoned kid's point of view. Now it's scary because when my child is born, eventually I'll have to look at the situation from the other side of the fence. I won't be a coward like Dan. I'll look at my kid and tell them the truth about how I messed up and how much I hurt their mother. They may or may not understand and they'll probably end up hating me but that's just the chance I have to take."
Brooke felt her tears funnel in an unstoppable burst of sorrow. For a split second she didn't see the evil man who had lied and cheated. She saw a wounded but good hearted boy who was the father of her child. He was the man she loved. He was her Broody.
"Mrs. Scott, are you alright?" Dr. Parker asked as he handed her a tissue.
"I'm okay…"
"Brooke, I know I've said it a million times but I'm sorry. So sorry. Losing you and not being able to be with you and be apart of your life and be apart of this pregnancy is killing me. I know that you don't want me anymore and I can live with that but please don't take away my child. This baby is all I have left and maybe I have no right to ask but I hope we can do this together. You may not love me anymore but I still love you…and I love our baby."
Brooke wanted to yell. She wanted to curse and stamp her feet. She wanted to slap Lucas hard across his face and inflict just a tad of the pain he had made her feel for the last few months. Instead only a single tear fell and she could only utter one thing.
"I know you love me, Luke. And I know you love the…our baby. And I listen to you cry and pour your heart out and it touches me. It really does but this is so hard. I can't. I just can't…"
Sobbing, she fled from the room.
Brooke sat in her car crying her eyes out. Emotional from the preganancy and emotional from being so close to Lucas again had all been too much. The purpose of her crashing the therapy session was to secure more money in her divorce settlement. But none of that mattered, she thought as she sobbed. She didn't want Lucas' money. She didn't even want a divorce. All she wanted was her old life back. She wanted it to be simple and happy again the way it was when she and Lucas had love and trust.
"Mrs. Scott?"
Brooke jumped as Dr. Parker tapped on her window. She dabbed her eyes as she rolled it down.
"Dr. Parker, I'm really sorry about earlier…"
"It's okay. You don't have to explain. I have worked in family counseling for 15 years and I've helped thousands of people like you."
"You can't help me. No one can. Dr. Parker, I still love Lucas very much. He's my husband and you don't devote ten years of your life to someone then all of a sudden stop loving them even if they do screw up. Believe me, I have thought long and hard about everything. I do still love Luke and I miss him and I miss the good times and I want us to be a family more than anything but how can we? I can't forgive or forget what he did. I miss him terribly and I desperately want to believe that this was just one awful, isolated incident but I just can't get past it no matter how hard I try. I am going to have a baby with this man for God's sake and I would do anything to save our marriage but I think it's too late."
"It's never too late", Dr. Parker said. "Mrs. Scott, your situation is not unique and more importantly, it's not hopeless."
"You don't know that…"
"I do know that I've helped so many people like you. And I'd like to try and do something for both you and Lucas but you have to give it a chance."
"I don't know…"
"I'm just asking for a chance. You make an effort and show up, I'll do my best to get you guys through it. No promises on either side. Now what do you say?"
Brooke closed her eyes. Maybe help and hope were on the way after all. It would just be up to her to make that first move. And the first step was the toughest…