The drive to Karen's was definitely an uncomfortable one. Lucas had gone in Peyton's car with her while Jake, Brooke and Jenny were in Jake's car. "You know..." Brooke said idly, staring at Jake as he drove.
"What?"
"I've found I don't drive very much, since we became... friends."
Jake grinned "Is that a good thing?"
"I don't know." Brooke said honestly. "I've always worn the pants... it's different."
"Well our relationship did start off a little differently then most."
Brooke thought about that for a minute. "Is that what we're in?"
"Is what what we're in?"
"A relationship."
Jake shrugged, "Don't you think so?"
"Most relationships I have are over by this point."
Jake tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "Usually at this point in my relationships the girl I'm with is pregnant... seems like a relationship to me."
Brooke glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Nicki was your first relationship?"
Jake nodded, a little uncomfortable with the topic. "That she was. I was only fifteen when we got together..."
"Okay," Brooke said, changing the topic. "If we are in a relationship we don't know much about each other."
"What do mean?"
"I mean we kinda skipped the friend phase, right? We went straight from acquaintances to 'in a relationship'; the friend part is where we learn about each other..."
"I know stuff about you." Jake defended himself.
"Oh yeah?" Brooke asked. Jake nodded. "So what's my middle name? Do I have any brothers or sisters? What are my parent's names? That stuff should be simple, right?"
Jake didn't answer until he parked in front of the café. "Rebecca."
"What?"
"Your middle name. It's Rebecca."
"How did you know that?"
Jake shrugged. "We can still learn about each other now, Brooke."
Brooke smiled as she waited for him to get Jenny out of her car seat. Okay, so let's even the playing field."
"What do you mean?"
"You know mine, so tell me yours."
"My middle name?" Brooke nodded. "Patrick. And I have two brothers and a sister, and my parent's names are LeAnne and Jimmy."
Brooke smiled. "I don't have any siblings, and Tracey and Edward."
Jake grabbed her hand as they walked to the front door of the café. "So, relationship?"
Brooke smiled and nodded. "Relationship."
"Good."
Peyton smiled to herself as Jake and Brooke came into the café hand in hand, finally. She and Luke had been at his mom's place for just under five minutes waiting for them and the small crowd was beginning to get restless.
"I knew it." Haley muttered as she saw Brooke holding Jake's hand.
"Knew what?" Nathan asked her, he was holding her own hand under the table.
"Nothing." Haley answered, smiling at him brightly. "Just a theory."
"Okay." Nathan shrugged. He would never figure her out.
Tim, who had followed Nathan to the café, was sitting across from them. Karen was behind the counter, talking to Keith and Whitey and sipping a cup of coffee. Lucas was pacing nervously, stopping every couple seconds to check and see if everyone was there. Which they were. Peyton actually found his case of nerves quite amusing.
"Brooke." Lucas said finally realizing she was there. Jake gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and sat next to Tim, Jenny in his arms chewing on a bright set of teething rings. Brooke walked over to Lucas' side and nodded, looking a lot more confident than she felt.
"Let's get this over with..." she whispered so only he could hear her.
Lucas nodded in agreement before clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. "So..." he began, everyone turned their heads to stare at the two teenagers. "We have an announcement-"
"Brooke's not pregnant, is she?" Tim asked.
The only sound that could be heard in the coffee shop was Jenny sucking noisily on her teething rings. "You're such an idiot Tim." Brooke muttered as she self consciously wrapped her arms about her now noticeably pregnant belly.
"What did you two do?" Karen asked in disbelief.
"Well that's fairly obvious Karen." Whitey said in his usual blunt way.
"Lucas..." Keith's voice trailed off.
"How could you be so stupid?" Karen asked, shaking her head.
"Hey!" Jake and Peyton stood up in defense of their friends.
"You two stay out of this!" Karen said angrily. "You have no idea-"
Jake was more than a little angry when he cut her off. He held a clueless, smiling Jenny up "I think I have a little bit of an idea."
"You're different Jake." Karen said.
"How so?" Brooke asked trying to defend herself.
"He's responsible for one thing." Karen said.
"No offense to Jake," Brooke said "But I don't think responsibility is what leads to having children at sixteen..."
"This is going to ruin your lives."
"The same way you ruined yours?" Lucas asked his mother quietly.
"I didn't say that..." Karen said.
"You might as well have."
"Listen Lucas-"
"No you listen!" The blonde cut off his mother "If there's one person in this room who doesn't have a right to condemn Brooke and me for this, it's you."
Karen opened her mouth to say something else, but quickly shut it. It would just make things worse. Instead she left the room, Keith following closely behind her.
Haley stared at the soon to be parents for a few second before getting up and giving each of them a hug. "Congratulations you two."
Nathan got up and did the same thing as his girlfriend. "Honestly if anyone could pull off this dad thing it's you Luke. I mean, you couldn't get much worse than our dad. Hey, I'm going to be an uncle!"
Brooke laughed for the first time that day. "You, the uncle of my children... I don't know how I feel about that."
"Children?" Haley asked "Are you planning on repeating this experience sometime soon?"
"No." Brooke said quickly, remembering the morning sickness all too well "Not with Luke at least."
"That means..."
"Twins." Nathan concluded. Brooke and Lucas just nodded.
"Wow." Haley breathed. Then she hugged Lucas again. "That's great you guys, really."
"Look," Brooke cut in "I'm really sorry, but I just want to go home and sleep..."
"I've got to get this one down for a nap." Jake added. "I'll take you home."
Brooke nodded and let him lead her out of the café.
"So she really is pregnant?" Tim asked, clueless.