So here's the next chapter. I have taken the suggestions that were suggested...lol...and worked them into my story. The couples have not yet been determined but will unfold as the story moves on. You will see relationships grow, fall apart, reconcile and blossom. Please keep reviews and suggestions coming...
The mall had been fun though Brooke didn't buy anything. She didn't have any money to buy anything. Marissa, being the good cousin she was, had bought Brooke a welcome to Newport outfit. Though Brooke argued Marissa convinced her saying it was all being put on Caleb's credit card. Marissa knew they didn't have the money to spend right now but it was her way of helping Brooke get back at her mom.

Once they were back at the Cohen house Marissa and Summer disappeared somewhere with Ryan and Seth leaving Brooke in the pool house alone with Adam. She smoothed over his light brown hair and stared into his deep blues eyes. So much of him reminded her of Lucas and it pained her to look at him sometime. She tried to think he was the better part of Lucas; the athletic, fun, loving, non-cheating Lucas. She wished things had turned out differently between the two because she could still be back home instead of this strange house with a strange family.

Then she thought of the Cohens and how good they'd been to her even though they had just met today. Kirsten was like the mother she never had and Ryan and Seth were the brothers she never had either. They were her instant family.

Family. Brooke had always wanted to graduate college, get married and start a family and she sometimes believed that she and Lucas had been destined to be together. That theory had gone out the window. Brooke blames her childhood and her lack of a parent figure on the way she turned out. Then she thought that if she hadn't turned out the way she was she wouldn't have been blessed with Adam.

"Brooke," Kirsten poked her head in the door, "Did you eat yet?"

"Uh, yeah." Brooke lied. She wasn't hungry at all. She just wanted to be alone with Adam tonight; just the two of them.

"Alright, well if you get hungry later the kitchen's always open." With that Kirsten was gone.

It made Brooke sick to think that Ryan and Seth were blessed with a mother and father as good as Kirsten and Sandy and she got a mother and father who were never there. It just didn't seem fair.

She was going to make sure Adam knew what it was like to have a loving family; even if it were just her for a while. She would find a worthy guy that would love her and Adam and wouldn't stab her in the back and cheat on her. She couldn't do that to Adam again.

"Mommy'll always be here for you baby. Don't you worry about that." Brooke whispered into Adam's ear as she held him tightly, as close as the two could be. Nothing was going to come between the two ever. Right now, Adam was the only man she needed in her life.

The door burst open and then quickly shut again. Then the intruder knocked and waited until Brooke said it was okay to come in. Brooke laid Adam down and went to the door to find Ryan standing there looking a little embarrassed.

"I'm sorry." Ryan said as soon as she opened the door, "I forgot that I don't live here anymore."

"Don't worry about it." Brooke stepped aside to let him in, "It's not like I was naked or anything."

"Yeah." Ryan said standing near what used to be his bed.

"So," Brooke broke the silence, "Can I help you?"

"Oh yeah, I left some books in here and I wanted to jut get them out of your way." Ryan walked over to the bookshelf that was formerly his.

"Oh sure go right ahead." Brooke said sitting back on the bed next to Adam.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Ryan piled books in his hands.

"Just some quality time with Adam." Brooke smiled and tickled the baby's stomach causing him to giggle loudly.

"I don't know how you do it." Ryan said sitting next to her on his old bed.

"How I do what?" Brooke turned to face him with Adam in her lap.

"Raise a child on your own." Ryan reached cautiously to touch Adam's tiny hand.

"I never thought I'd be able to do it either. I mean come on I'm just sixteen but I guess you just rise to the occasion." Brooke said smoothing over Adam's hair.

"I was almost in your place too." Ryan leaned back on his hands, "But luckily it was just a false alarm."

"Being in my place isn't so bad." Brooke said with a slight smile, "I mean I wish things had turned out differently but they say, everything happens for a reason."

"How would you have wished this had turned out?" Ryan knew that sometimes just talking about things made it all seem more bearable.

"Well for one thing I'd be finishing off high school like every other normal teenage girl. And I wouldn't be alone. I'd have a loving boyfriend who doesn't cheat. And then I'd graduate college get married and then have my kids." Brooke had thought about this a lot.

"So you skipped a few steps." Ryan tried to comfort her, "All you'll do all those things you have yet to do."

"I'm glad you're so sure." Brooke said leaning her chin on top of Adam's head.

"Before I came here I was lucky if I could walk down the street without being killed or picked up by the cops." Ryan knew you had to give a little to get a little.

"Before I came here I was lucky if I didn't get my ass slapped by some random guys in a random bar. That was before he came along." Brooke referred down to Adam.

"People do change you know. Usually they change for the better." Ryan tried again to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

"But some change for the worse." Brooke said thinking again of Lucas.

"They can still change." Ryan put his hand on Brooke's leg.

"I wish that was true." Brooke said with a weak smile. She had this strong urge to kiss Ryan but then she'd turn into that other girl and she didn't want to turn out like Peyton had.

"It is true. So he made a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes and they grow and learn from them. And they become smarter than they were before." Ryan lifted Brooke's chin to see how serious he really was.

"He?" Brooke said. She hadn't thought they started talking about Lucas but suddenly they were.

"The guy that hurt you." Ryan clarified.

"Lucas, his name was Lucas." A tear streaked down Brooke's cheek leaving a trail for others to follow.

"Well I hate him right now." Ryan said clenching his fist, "I know we haven't know each other for more than a day but I can see how bad he hurt you and it makes me sick how guys could be like that."

"Bashing your own kind?" Brooke felt so safe around Ryan. Marissa had good taste.

"I've seen what guys can do to girls over and over again. They hurt the ones they love for a little fun." Ryan dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands, "I've hurt people I love but not for fun 'cause that's never fun."

"So what'd you hurt them for?" Brooke had never seen this side of any guy before.

"I tried to do what was right." Ryan looked away, not wanting Brooke to see the tears forming in his eyes.

"If it was to make things right than there is nothing wrong with that." Brooke made him look at her, "You dealt with your problems and I ran from them. I took Adam and I ran as far away as I could."

"Do you think you made the right choice?" Ryan wanted to get away from his problems and get back to Brooke's. Brooke needed the help now and he would just have to wait for his turn.

"Yes and no." Brooke looked down at her baby. She had robbed him of his father, "He'll never know who his father is."

"You could tell him when he's older," Ryan said, "What was the plus side?"

"I met you and your family and friends." Brooke smiled a tear glistening in the corner of her eye.

Neither of them spoke for a while. They just sat there and took in all the words the two had shared. They both had so much to think about now. Both had made so many good points about each other's problems. Brooke had been right, everything did happen for a reason. She ran away and ended up here in the Cohen's house with Ryan and there was a reason for it all. There was a reason that both Ryan and Brooke ended up under the Cohen's roof. There was a reason that Lucas and Peyton hooked up and a reason why Adam came into Brooke's life.

There was just so much deep emotions in the room. They both got caught up in them. Before both of them realized what was happening, their lips were locked together and moving in a slow steady pattern. The kiss intensified as Ryan held her head in his palms. Brooke hadn't kissed a boy since Lucas and it was weird that she choice Ryan.

Ryan. He was with Marissa, her cousin. The cousin that had been so nice to her even when Julie turned her away. Marissa showed her a good time at the mall that very afternoon and introduced her to Summer and Seth and Ryan. God what was she doing? She told herself she would never get herself involved with another cheater but here she was being the Peyton of this situation.

She wanted to pull back and knew she had to but there was just something about him that drew her closer. It was almost like she melted into him, becoming part of him. Then she felt Adam in her lap. She couldn't do this to Adam. She couldn't involve herself with a guy that had just told her he only hurt the people he loved because he always needed to do what was right. Was this right? Were they right?


Next to come:
Ryan and Brooke?
Will Marissa find out?
Who will be making an appearance?
How will the truths come out?