Ok! I am back and ready to write! Hahaha After a long trip to Atlanta… Now I am refreshed and full of storylines… I hope! Hahaha For you guys sake! Sorry it has taken me so long to get this up! I wasn't planning on it being almost a week! But it just turned out that way… Blame the WB boards LOL… anyway! This Chapter is nice and long for you guys! ENJOY and please review!

Brooke and Lucas sat together in the hall while the social worker had Carter in a big room with closed doors talking to him. Brooke wasn't sure why… he was after all, all of 2 years old and could barely talk… how was a conversation with him going to help them decide who he should be with? All of this was stressing Brooke out to no end. Last night neither she or Lucas had gotten any sleep… and not for the reasons she would have liked either. Emma, Austin and Maddie were at Haley's house… hopefully learning something Brooke hoped. They always came back from her house with some useless fact that kept them occupied for weeks like "All polar bears are left handed". Of course they were never going to need these facts but it did make them sound smart.

Lucas was sitting beside her running his fingers through his hear every few minutes and then sighing looking back down at his book. "Of Human Bondage" That was a good memory for Brooke, something to keep her mind off of things… sorta. Of course that book also made her think of high school and how Peyton and Lucas had cheated on her… so really it wasn't helping matters at all.

"Didn't you bring your IPOD or something…" Brooke whined taking Lucas's book away from him

"Its in the car… bored?"

"So bored… my eyes are watering! How long does it take to talk to a 2 year old…"

"So far? 2 hours and 36 minutes" Lucas sighed looking down at his watch. He had to give it to Brooke he was bored too

"Great… you could have at least brought a better book"

"You like this book and you know it"

"Never… it's about a crippled boy" Brooke giggled flipping though the old pages. She actually didn't mind the book too much when she really thought about it… it was just fun to make Lucas mad

"So?"

"So… I don't know… I'm so bored I forgot to think up a reason why I don't like that book"

"You realize your making no sense…" Lucas laughed taking his book back from her

"Or am I?"

"Ok… you have my attention… what do you want to do"

"Listen in on them" Brooke whispered looking at the wall behind her and squinting her eyes deviously at Lucas

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"We have 3 options"

"Your going to get all of our children taken from us aren't you" Lucas laughed running his fingers through is spiky hair

"Just stay with me here! Ok plan A" Brooke giggled pulling 2 glasses out of her pocketbook

"Cups?"

"Yes! You put them next to the door… Emma's idea, do you know how brilliant our daughter is?"

"What if we get caught?" Lucas asked looking down at the glasses

"They said it was going to be AT LEAST 4 hours… come on Luke! Don't you want to hear what they are asking him?"

"Hand me a glass…but if we get caught" Lucas started but Brooke broke in giggling

"Then I am blaming everything on you Broody!"

"Come on… what door was it?"

"This one…" Brooke whispered putting her glass to the door

"I can't hear anything"

"Me either"

"What do we do?" Lucas asked handing her back his glass. He was scared to hear plan B… there was no telling what it was going to be

"Plan B"

"What's plan B"

"This was Austin's plan" Brooke smiled

"What did do to these kids before we came?"

"Well they watch a lot of TV… They had to have some ideas!"

"Ok what's plan B?" Lucas sighed

"Air ducts"

"OK what's plan C"

"Maddie's plan?" Brooke giggled rolling her eyes

"Oh god…"

"Maddie said to call frosty"

"Does this place even have air ducts" Lucas asked looking up at the ceiling

"Yep! I checked while you were reading that dumb book"

"Not the book again… Brooke, we can't climb through air ducts"

"We can and we will! We have to know what to expect!" Brooke whined leaning on Lucas to make him feel sorry for her

"Or we can just sit in our chairs like every other parent… Brooke… don't you dare fake cry"

"I'm not" Brooke said quietly

"What if they catch us?"

"What if they don't?"

"What if they do?" Lucas asked thinking hard about what to do

"What if the world explodes and the only living thing left is flying pigs!"

"Brooke"

"We wouldn't be Brooke and Lucas if we didn't do this" Brooke whined kissing Lucas to try and persuade him

"And we wouldn't be Brooke and Lucas if I didn't argue with you about it first either"

"That's true!" Brooke giggled kissing him again

"I give in"

"Ha! I knew you wanted to listen just as bad as I do! Hand me your phone"

"Why?" Lucas asked having no idea what on earth she was doing

"I need to call Austin and get help"

"Here"

"It's ringing" Brooke whispered

"Hello?"

"Emma… let me talk to your brother"

"Cups didn't work?" Emma laughed

"Walls were too think"

"That sucks… here he is"

"Hello?" Austin answered

"Hey ok so help us"

"Ducts?"

"Yes…" Brooke sighed

"I don't know anything about them! I was kidding… are you really going to get in the air ducts?" Austin asked excitedly

"Guess not…"

"Sorry mom"

"No problem… love you, you guys BEHAVE for Tutor girl" Brooke giggled

"We will"

"Uh huh… bye"

"What did he say" Lucas asked seeing the disappointment on Brooke's face

"He doesn't know anything about air ducts"

"So its back to the chairs?"

"It was fun while it lasted" Brooke smiled leaning on Lucas as they walked. AT least she had been distracted for a little while, something to help get her mind off of this

"Mr. And Mrs. Scott?" A tall man said from the door just as Lucas and Brooke were getting back to their seats

"Yes?"

"You can come in now"

"That was fast" Brooke whispered grabbing her stuff

"Guess it was a good thing we didn't get in the ducts"

"This way… now we have asked him a series of simple questions, just to get the basic gist of how he feels about things… now we would like to ask him questions with you two in the room with him, as well as Justine"

"Ok" Lucas sighed taking Brooke's hand

"This should be interesting"

Emma and Austin sat bored as usual watching cartoons with Maddie, and all of Haley's kids. Haley was off somewhere cleaning or cooking or helping Peyton out and Nathan was busy outside cutting the grass, which was already too sort to begin with. This place was definitely way different from home where Brooke never cleaned or cooked or anything, and Lucas claimed that his shoulder was hurt to bad to cut the grass. They just had people come in and do it for them.

"You think our house would be more interesting is mom and dad did this stuff?" Austin asked in total boredom

"No silly! Who would we play with!" Maddie laughed

"Each other"

"Oh My God… the horror!" Amber giggled

"Mommy wouldn't play with us?"

"Mommy would play with us Lula"

"Would daddy?" Maddie asked worried

"Of course!"

"We just wouldn't get to play in chocolate, and flour and stuff like that because mom and dad would be the ones who had to clean it up" Austin laughed

"So what would we do for fun?"

"Watch TV"

"Or you guys could do like me and find someone whose parents don't do this stuff to hang out with" Amber giggled looking down at her watch

"I am bored" Emma sighed turning away from the TV

"Lets do something"

"Like what?"

"I have my phone… we could go through mom and dads year books and call random guys and take a poll on how many slept with mom… and how many claim they slept with mom" Emma laughed pulling out her cell phone

"You guys actually do that"

"When we're bored… mom likes to do it too" Austin smiled

"I think I was born into the wrong family"

"We did it too recently"

"Umm… we could take Maddie downtown and get her to pretend she is a hooker to all the little boys who walk by with their parents" Austin suggested

"We better not… mom and dad said we have to be good! We can't have anything bad on the record or they could take Carter away"

"So that means no blowing up condoms and shooting them off like missals onto the beach?" Amber asked sadly

"We're in Tree Hill… where are we going to find condoms"

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Maddie asked joining in the conversation

"We could go Christmas shipping for mom and dad"

"Who would take us?

"Call Tim!" Maddie shrieked

"Madison Tallulah Scott! You are brilliant"

"I know" Maddie smiled proudly

"What's Tim going to do?"

"Tim is fun"

"How are we going to get him here?" Austin asked

"Call him and tell him we has booz!"

"That's good…"

"Then we get him to take us Christmas shopping for mom and dad!" Emma smiled picking looking under her number list for Tim

"Tim?"

"Yea…Mouth is too practical, Haley and Nathan and busy, Peyton is well out of commission… who better than Tim!"

"What about Whitey or Dan?" Amber asked

"Dan is mean and Whitey is old… TIM!"

"He is going to wanna take us to some porn store…" Austin whined

"Well we'll sit in the car while he goes in… Tim likes the mall!"

"Ok… call"

"Emmy! Tutor girl isn't going to let us goes with him!" Maddie cried

"Yes she will Lula… watch and learn… wait until she is really busy like now and ask"

"Oh"

"Haley… can Austin, Amber, Maddie and I go Christmas shopping with Tim" Emma yelled as Haley walked through the living room with piles of clothes

"Be home by dark"

"See… now to call Tim" Emma giggled. This was going to be a better day than she thought

Brooke and Lucas walked into the room where Carter was sitting quietly in a chair playing with his bear that they had let him bring in… that is until he saw Brooke and Lucas walk in. Once he spotted them there was no turning back. He even dropped his bear to run into Lucas's arms and be held. Seeing his tear stained face from where they had carried him away into that room crying still made Brooke's stomach turn and blood boil.

"Mama!" Carter giggled from Lucas's arms showing Brooke the sticker they had given him with a power Ranger on it

"Hey Baby! Did you have fun playing with the silly lawyer people"

"Nowa" Carter whispered putting his head down on Lucas's chest

"Why not"

"Go bye bye"

"We can't go bye bye yet dude, we are going to play some more" Lucas said pulling him closer

"Mama, go bye bye"

"Oh great… he's already playing us, Carter baby we are going to stay here for a little while and play! And then we'll go home and see Maddie!"

"Ok Dude?" Lucas asked

"K"

"Carter… come back to your chair please… we are going to play another game"

"Nowa…" Carter cried burying his face in Lucas's chest

"We're right here… go show is your game man"

"Carter come on" A man said pulling Carter away, and taking him back to the tiny table

"You 2 can sit right there please" another man asked pointing to 2 chairs against the wall

"Can we say stuffy…" Brooke whispered

"Now we are going to ask Carter a few questions right now to see how he interacts with each of you. Brooke, Lucas and Justine… if you all could not make any motions to him or say anything that would make this process go a lot faster… Understood?"

"Yes" Brooke sighed

"Yes"

"Ok"

"Now Carter… who is that lady right there?" The taller man asked Carter pointing to Brooke

"Mama!"

"And that man?"

"Dada!" Carter shrieked giggling and smiling

"What about that lady?"

"Please don't say crackwhore, please don't say crackwhore" Brooke whispered crossing her fingers, toes and everything else

"Carter who is that? Do you know?" The man asked again

"Nowa"

"That's ok. Please note that we have established that she sees Mr. And Mrs. Scott and his mother and father" The man smiled and then turned to another man at the tble

"Noted"

"Now Carter… when you fall down and hurt yourself, who makes it better?"

"Mama" Carter said not paying any attention to the man, instead he looked as if he were plotting a away to get to Brooke

"What games do you like to play?"

"Ball!"

"Who plays ball with you?" The man asked sweetly to Carter who was now excited at the sound of Ball

"Dada!"

"This is nerve wrecking" Lucas whispered

"Why is she even in here? He doesn't know who she is!"

"I don't know…"

"Ok… I think we have what we are going to need for the courtroom next week… Now you may meet with your lawyers… Carter you can go to your mommy" The man said helping Carter down

"Mama"

"Hey Babe…you did good…" Brooke smiled picking Carter up

"Go bye bye?"

"Not yet… We get to meet with the creepy Lawyer man, and then we are going Christmas shopping for Maddie, Austin and Emma"

"Madee!" Carter squealed

"Yes… Maddie"

"Just to give you 2 fair warning… Justine and I will be asking for visitation until this trial is over" Justine's mother snorted as she walked past them with Justine at her side

"What!"

"You cant do that!" Brooke yelled

"We can and we will!"

"You B-"

"What?" Justine asked

"You are so freakin lucky that I love this little boy so much or"

"Or what?"

"You just want me to say or what so you can hold it against me in court! I wont… come on Lucas lets go" Brooke said glaring at both women… she knew if she didn't get out of there soon she was definitely going to do something she would regret

"We'll see you in court"

"We'll see you in court! Who does that little bitch think she is?"

Tim drove into the driveway in his "Pimpmobile" as he called it and honked the horn for Emma, Austin, Amber and Maddie to hurry up. Once Emma had Maddie ready and Austin and Amber both had their money they ran out to his car quickly just to make sure Haley didn't have second thoughts… or realize what she was letting them do.

"What up Scott x 5" Tim yelled as the walked to the car

"There are only 4 of us here Tim"

"No dude, look…1, 2, 3, 4, 5"

"Your not a Scott" Emma laughed helping Maddie in

"Do you 3 want a ride or not?"

"4 Tim"

"Are you sure we should be riding with him?" Austin whispered climbing into the dirt car

"It's either him or you… and we know what you do to cars"

"Ha ha…"

"Where too my little bambinas" Tim smiled

"The mall?"

"Do they have a "store""

"Sure?" Emma asked

"Mall it is then!"

"What's a babeena?" Maddie asked confused

"Nothing"

"Is it like a Green been? I don't like green beans… they are too green"

"Its not like a Green bean Maddie" Amber laughed

"Mom is going to kill us"

"Have you been drinking Tim?" Emma asked before shutting the car door

"The Tim Mister doesn't drink anymore… all for Tina"

"Good for you"

"So I am trying to find a good dealer" Tim sighed

"We're going to die aren't we?" Austin asked

"Kidding dudes… I already know a good dealer"

"Oh God"

"You has a hole in your car!" Maddie giggled pointing to the floor

"That's the trash hole…"

"Maddie could fall through that thing…" Austin laughed

"We also use it when we have to, well you know…"

"Play Golf?" Maddie asked

"No Maddie not play golf"

"Oh… Then I don't know"

After meeting with the lawyer… where all the found out was that Justine COULD get visitation, She COULD win, and The lawyer had on really terrible shoes… so he definitely wasn't gay like Brooke had first thought. Then they went to the mall. At the mall after Brooke had loaded Lucas up with Baby gap, toys are us, Claries, and every other stores bags they went to the food court to eat.

"I swear to god I think I am seeing things" Lucas said wiping his eyes

"What?"

"That girl over there looked JUST like Emma"

"Someone needs to sleep more" Brooke laughed hitting him with a French fry

"Hey look! There's Tim"

"Hide" Brooke whispered

"Too late"

"Lucas! Dude…"

"Tim…" Lucas sighed

"Isn't Peyton going to get mad you are here with Brooke?"

"Tim…"

"I'm just kidding dude! I know you're not married to Peyton" Tim laughed sitting down

"Finally"

"Haley is your woman"

"What are you doing here, at a mall with no porn store?" Brooke asked smacking the back of his head

"What? Those kids told me there was a porn store! Dude…."

"What kids?"

"Your 5 kids" Tim whined

"We don't have 5 kids"

"Man, now my heard hurts… if I hear that damn frosty the snowman song one more time"

"Tim… where are our children" Brooke sighed shaking her head

"Ouch… talk quieter… there getting ice cream"

"Why are they at the mall with you?"

"Because they needed to Christmas shop or something?" Tim whispered

"Tutorgirl is so dead"

"AH, uh, um mom" Emma said stopping dead in her tracks

"Emmy… sweetie" Brooke said sarcastically

"We were um, well we um"

"Austin…"

"Madee!" Carter squealed

"Mommy! We roded with Tim in his car with a hole in it! And I almosted felled out! And Tim knows a Dealer!"

"You guys have fun with Tim?" Brooke asked pulling Maddie in her lap

"Not really… how much trouble are we in?"

"Depends on how good my present is…."

"Its good!" Emma smiled showing Brooke the shiny bag

"Ok… then you're not in trouble"

"Really…"

"I give up… I got in trouble for everything when I was little, and I still got pregnant at 16…" Brooke sighed rolling her eyes at Lucas

"Ok…"

"You guys ready to go?"

"You guys go… Tim will drive Emma and I home" Brooke said throwing the keys at Lucas

"What? No dude" Tim whined

"Tim WILL drive us home"

"I would listen to her man…" Lucas smiled kissing Brooke bye

"Brooke, my FAVORITE aunt in the WHOLE wide world" Amber started but Brooke already knew what was coming

"Yes you can spend the night… just tell your mom"

"Thank you!"

"So whats up with you lately Em?" Brooke asked once everyone was gone

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean… Riding with Tim… you do realize that I love you guys and I don't want you dead"

"It was either that or Austin's idea"

"That being?" Brooke asked and then regretted it

"Lets just say it involved Maddie as a hooker"

"Interesting"

"I was just kinda bored I guess" Emma said quietly

"Bored… bored is not always good… when I was bored… well we'll leave it at that"

"I know"

"You ok?" Brooke asked. Emma was way too quiet tonight. It made Brooke nervous.

"Yea"

"Don't lie to me"

"I guess… I just miss you mom. Remember when we use to do this like everyday" Emma asked quietly

"Yea…"

"And I know you're busy! Its important obviously"

"But as hard as I am fighting to stay Carter's mom, I'm still you guys mom too" Brooke finished. She felt terrible… The sad look on Emma's face could have killed her

"Mom don't look like that… we understand! We don't want to loose Carter either!"

"I know… but I should be doing better, come here" Brooke said pulling Emma into her lap. She was so thankful that Emma was tiny like her at this point

"Is this getting ready to get Cheesy?"

"Probably…"

"Uh oh" Emma laughed

"You wanna skip the cheese?"

"Yea"

"K, but you know I love you Em… I've loved you longest, and from now on no matter what the hell is going on… we're going shopping at least 3 times a week… because I think my shopping shoes are starting to miss me too" Brooke giggled

"Really?"

"I think they were whining from my closet last night"

"Or that would have been Maddie… she was trying to talk to Bella" Emma laughed rolling her eyes

"Creepy… ok come on…"

"Where to?"

"Well I was thinking today and you do know your birthdays in like a month right? Or have I neglected you so bad that you've forgotten your own birthday?" Brooke asked putting her arm around Emma

"Mom…"

"Ok so we probably need to start planning"

"Really?" Emma asked excitedly

"Unless you want no one to come…"

"Can it be a dance?"

"Of course…." Brooke smiled

"And a sleepover?"

"Why not…"

"This is going to be so awesome!" Emma squealed.

"Why do I get the feeling I am going to be broke after this?"

"You wont be broke…" Emma promised

"I wont?" Brooke asked. That right there made her think she had really done something wrong

"Dad might be"

"Ok well we can live with that… he doesn't need much"

Spoilers: Ok so forget every other spoiler you have read because last night I sat down and I figured out the rest of the story like a good person hahaha. A lot is the same… the next 4 or 5 chapters are going to be dealing with court battles… Christmas break, Emma and Boys, Austin and Maddie, ect. Then about chapter 28ish will be Peyton and her baby, Lucas dealing with Dan and his coach and what he really wants, Brooke being Brooke bonding with Emma… all that fun stuff, finishing up with Keith/Karen/Nick. Then 29 will be some serious closure! And Emma's 13th birthday… and then 30 is a surprise! So that's a general map of how things are going to go from now on… things could vary but that's the basic jist! Enjoy and please review!