Haley carefully parked the Infiniti convertible wondering what exactly she could say or do to make an impossible situation better or at least bearable. Once again she found herself in the dreaded yet increasingly familiar spot between Lucas and Brooke. Tapping her fingers against the steering wheel, she exhaled deeply before venturing out.

"Luke! Brooke! Anybody home? It's Hales!"

No one answered but the door was open so she took the liberty of letting herself in. The living room TV played softly and Haley smiled as she heard the unmistakable sound of wheels against the hard wood floors. She'd been through it twice already with her own boys so Haley was no stranger to the noise of a small child wheeling through the house in a baby walker. There was little Harmony, laughing and clapping her hands.

"Hello, Angel", Haley cooed as she picked up the little girl and kissed her. "Where are your Mommy and Daddy?"

She carried the child down the hall a little further and was not prepared to see the sight before her. There was Brooke, hair looking like a million bucks, make up impeccable, dressed in designer khaki Capri's, a black tank top straight off the Bloomingdales' rack and Marc Jacobs' heels. Around her body was an apron and around her head a black bandana. She was bent over the toilet, wrench in hand while her free hand was used to flip the pages of a book.

"Brooke, um…what is going on?" Haley asked with a bit of a laugh.

"Haley!" Brooke exclaimed. "Oh God. Girl, you scared me half to death. I didn't even hear you come in."

"The door was open so…"

"Never mind all that. It's good to see you. I would give you a hug but I'm all sweaty. Why don't you go have a seat in the living room and I'll be there in a bit and make you something to eat."

Lucas was right…the aliens had kidnapped Brooke.

"I'm not hungry. Brooke, what are you doing?"

"The toilet backed up so I'm fixing it", she shrugged.

"Why didn't you just call a plumber?"

"Nonsense. Who needs a plumber when I have this?" she asked, pointing to her copy of Household Plumbing for Dummies. "I can do it myself. It's not brain surgery, Hales."

The bedroom door behind Haley opened and Lucas peeked out, his eyes beseeching as his mouth whispered the words "please help". Obviously the situation was worse than she thought.

"Um, Brooke can we talk please? You and I."

"Okay but let me get to a stopping point. I can take a little break but I don't have much time because after I fix the toilet, I have to make lunch, clean the house and work on the garden."

"Garden?"

"Yeah, I figured this place could use some livening up and what better way to do it than flowers."

Haley nodded as Brooke followed her and Harmony back towards the front of the house where Haley placed the baby in her playpen.

"Brooke, we need to…"

Lucas walked from the back, nodding at the women as he made his way to the kitchen.

"Luke, what are you doing?"

"Just getting some orange juice, Brooke."

"Hel-lo! That's why I'm here. You're gonna end up back in the hospital if you keep overdoing it, I swear. Now sit and let me get that", she said as she took over performing the simple task.

Lucas just shook his head and sighed at Haley as Brooke went on and on about the juice.

"I'm sorry, Haley. What were you saying?"

"I…uh, Brooke, I think…"

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Please excuse me. That must be the delivery guy with the new vacuum cleaner."

"New vacuum?" Lucas asked. "What happened to the other one?"

"Oh. Um, last night it got kind of chilly so I decided to light a fire and then I wanted to put it out but it's not remote controlled like our ones in Greenwich so I actually had to use that thingy over there to rake over the hot coals and I guess a few of them sort of fell on the floor and I guess I didn't realize it right away and I guess when I started to vacuum, I kind of ran over the hot coals and they sort of blew up the vacuum cleaner."

Lucas looked at Haley who was trying to stifle a laugh imagining Brooke vacuuming and then blowing up the vacuum cleaner. Brooke just shrugged as she practically skipped to answer the door. She smiled as she signed for the package then tipped the delivery guy.

"That looks kind of small to be a vacuum cleaner", Lucas pointed out cautiously.

"Oh it's not. I guess that'll come tomorrow. This is even better. Want to know what it is? I'll tell you because I know you want to know. Look!" she said proudly as tore open the package.

"What's that?" Haley asked.

"Well Lucas, you gave us quite the scare so it started me thinking. If you have another attack, what can I do besides calling 911? I mean, what if that isn't enough? So I did some research on the computer and voila…here is your new portable heart defibrillator! What do you think?"

Lucas and Haley exchanged horrified glances. Neither one knew whether to laugh, cry or throw up as they imagined Brooke, in heels, shouting "stand clear" as she attempted to shock Lucas' heart. Brooke Scott. The same Brooke Scott who had destroyed a record five coffee makers within a month, nearly electrocuted herself with the blender and now had blown up the vacuum.

"Brooke, we need to talk. Now. You and me. Luke, watch the baby. We'll be right back", Haley said, dragging Brooke outside before she could protest.

"Brooke, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Plumbing, cooking, babying Lucas, buying a heart defibrillator?"

"Well, I can't just let him die."

"You don't even know how to use the thing."

"I watch ER", Brooke scoffed.

"Brooke!"

"What? Haley, what am I doing wrong now? I pack up my kid and what is left of my pathetic life and zip across the country to nurse my ailing soon to be ex husband back to health. It's the right thing to do, a fact drilled into my head many times by you, your stain of a husband and everybody else. Now I'm here. And I'm doing my best. I cook, I clean, I fix things, I do things so Lucas will be comfortable and now I guess that's not enough."

"Sweetie, it's not that. You…well, you're doing a good job and I know it's all from the heart but you're making this harder than it has to be. Lucas needs someone in the house with him and he needs helps with a few everyday tasks but he's not a child or an invalid. And maybe we should stop making him feel like one", Haley said gently. "We can arrange for catered meals and a housekeeper to come in twice a week and anything else he needs."

"I…I was just trying to help", Brooke said, looking away.

"I know. We all know. It's just a difficult situation."

"I'm out here all alone, Haley. You don't know what that's like. Things are so different between Luke and me now. We don't talk like we used to. We can't. And I don't have any friends out here. It's just me and Harmony and Pete. Can you believe that?" Brooke bitterly laughed. "I have conversations pouring out my heart and deepest feelings to a ten month old and a dog."

"Brooke, that's not true…"

"Yes it is. You and Nathan have your own life and Peyton and Jake are busy in Chicago. I haven't talked to my New York friends in forever. You know, whenever I used to have a problem and I'd go to Gordon and I'd ask him for advice and you know what he would say? He'd say, 'Child, what would Jesus do?' I swear that was like his answer for everything. So when I found myself here in this crazy situation, I was feeling a little scared and a little confused. I look at everything Lucas and I have been through and it's all so unbelievable. Now this. I know he's not an invalid but I also know that physically, he still isn't at a hundred percent. He might try to pretend otherwise and maybe you guys don't see it but I am with him all day, everyday and I do. For more than eleven years I have watched that man in there physically and mentally be stronger than any human being I know. And now I see him weak and helpless and sick and it kills me because it's scary and I don't have all the answers. I just want to help him. I just want to do the right thing, whatever the hell that is. But I don't know what's left and what's right anymore. I don't have any of the answers and no one to give them to me. I don't know what Jesus would do but I thought about the next best thing. I asked myself, what would Haley do?"

Haley's brown eyes widened.

"What?"

"You always know what to do and what to say. People can be in the worst situation or the crappiest mood then talk to you and miraculously you can make it all better. I've always admired that. That's not me. I guess it's not in my nature to be nurturing or domesticated. But I see you and how you are and that's what I want to be because that's what Lucas needs right now. Maybe he always needed it. Who knows? Maybe if I had been more like you in the first place, he never would have slept with that girl in Sacramento."

"Brooke! No. Just stop it right there. You are doing a fine job and you're trying your best and that's all anyone can ask right now. Lucas is lucky to have you in his life…we all are. I appreciate the kind words and everything but it's so not true. I am not this perfect person you think I am. I have problems and fears just like you do, Brooke."

"Yeah? But you don't have a husband who betrayed you twice once by cheating on you, twice by turning his back on you and letting you get arrested for the supposed abandonment and neglect of your child. Now this is the same man I have to take care of for the next few months. So I don't expect you to relate to what I'm dealing with right now."

"What? You think my life is perfect? You think my marriage is perfect?"

"Yes. Or as close as perfect can get. Haley, Nathan adores you. You are like the best wife ever. You balance a successful career but at the same time, you're always there for your family. You gave him two beautiful sons. Emotionally, you have been his rock and support for the past ten years. You never miss a home basketball game, you travel with him whenever possible. You guys made a wonderful home. You two never argue over more than whether it's going to be oatmeal or omelets for breakfast. By all accounts your sex life is fabulous. You mop your own floors and scrub your own toilets and your house is so clean you could eat off the floor. Not to mention you're the best cook since Karen Rowe to come out of Tree Hill. You're the most hands on mommy I know. You drive the carpool for the little league soccer team, you're the Kindergarten class mother, and you're constantly baking cupcakes and cookies and brownies. You hands sew your kids' Halloween costumes for God's sake and on top of that they look better than anything you can buy in the store. And you always have time to read a story or sing a song and you can kiss any wound and make it all better. And if that isn't enough, you look absolutely gorgeous doing it all."

"Brooke, I love my life and it's great but nothing is perfect. And the grass is always greener on the other side. I am a normal human being just like you. In fact, I am probably the most insecure person you'll ever meet even if I don't always show it. Every single time Nathan walks out the door, I worry. I am terrified of the women he meets, women who are prettier or smarter or have better bodies."

"Has Nathan ever cheated on you?"

"I asked him once and he said no and that's enough for me."

"See?"

"I'm just saying. I know temptations exists alive and well…trust me."

"What are you saying?" Brooke joked. "You cheated on Nathan?"

Haley looked away embarrassed and Brooke's eyes widened.

"Haley James Scott!"

"Look, can I tell you a secret nobody else knows about me? There was a time when Nathan and I weren't doing too well. We were fighting a lot about everything. It was really hard. Aidan was still in diapers and my music career was at a bit of a standstill. Then I met this guy, Chris Keller. His band played one night at the Viper Room when Nathan and I went to this party. He was kind of a jerk to say the least but he was a talented jerk. He'd actually heard a song I recorded and wanted to work with me. I was flattered. This guy has connections and he has talent and more importantly, he believed in me. He believed in me at a time when it seemed like no one else did. I really needed that…more than I knew."

"So what happened?"

"We did some work in the studio together. Nathan hated it. Nathan hated him. Cocky, arrogant, handsome, Nathan Scott, the guy who had everything was threatened by a baby face wanna be grunge rocker, can you believe that one? For me it was always about the music but the more Chris and I hung out…I mean, it was nice to have this life outside of being Nathan Scott's wife and Aidan Scott's mother because for so long that's all I had been and in the process, I had lost Haley. I never had romantic feelings for Chris or anything but I did have these crazy images in my head of just running away from my 'perfect' life. I wanted to do something else and be someone else and live this awesome life partying on the road and basically having the freedom I never had when I was younger. Anyway, one day after a recording session, Chris told me loved me and tried to kiss me. His band was leaving that night on tour and he wanted me to come with him. I thought about it. For like a split second I actually contemplated running off with him. Then he tried to kiss me and all of a sudden reality smacked me in my face. I told him I never wanted to see him again and I left. I drove home as fast as I could and when I got there, there was my husband in the most foul mood because he's been ejected from the Utah Jazz/Laker game because of a technical. His dirty socks and underwear were all over the house I had just spent all day cleaning. Dishes were piling up in the sink and my son was running around in a poopy diaper I could smell from the door with spaghetti all over his mouth. You know what? That life I had been dying to leave never looked so good. I realized how blessed I was and I am happy, Brooke. This is my life and it's who I am. And that night, I lit candles and got dressed in the silk nightgown I wore on my honeymoon, the one where Nathan took my virginity and I laid my husband on our bed and I literally fucked his brains out. I realized that night just how much I had been taking everything for granted and I stopped before it was too late. That was the second greatest thing about that night. Know what the first was? That was also the night we made Tristan."

"Oh my God. Haley…"

"So long story short, I told you all that to teach you two different lessons. Number one…all that glitters isn't gold. Number two…you don't have to be Super Woman or Super Mom or Super Nurse or whatever the hell you're trying to be. Just be who you are and you've been for the past 26 years. The gold hearted, fun loving, happy go lucky, wonderful woman we all know and love. Sweetie, just be you. Be Brooke."

"I guess I have been a neurotic mess lately, huh?"

"You were just scared."

"I still want to help him. I still want to be there for him."

"Good. Do it. Be what he needs you to be and when. No more, no less."

Brooke looked at Haley and smiled as the two women embraced tightly.

"Thanks Hales. I needed that talk and I needed you."

"No problem, Tigger."

"Oh and one more thing. There's one more important lesson you didn't teach me today."

"What's that?"

"Never try to unclog a toilet in heels", she laughed.

"That was one I thought you'd get on your own", Haley grinned. "I don't know how you did it. You looked hot but I don't know how you did it."

"Yeah", Brooke smiled as she hugged her sister in law again. "If my Gordie could see me now."