Equal But Opposite Reaction
By: Sari
Disclaimer: No, I don't own OTH. If I did Brooke and Lucas would be back together and Felix would be in a ditch somewhere. Haley wouldn't be going insane and she and Nathan would be back together.
Summary: AU Brucas. Successful bachelor Lucas Scott meets hard to get, feminist Brooke Davis and a rollercoaster ride occurs as both begin to fall in love.
Part 13
"The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are lovedloved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." – Victor Hugo
Brooke found it strange that out of controversy she had created a new friend. That seemed to be the pattern here in Palm Beach. Get in an argument, call a truce, and learn something new about yourself or someone else. In this case it would have to be Nikki. After confronting Peyton and Jake both she and Lucas had made an effort to call her and give her their support, their reasoning being that Jake and Peyton weren't acting in the best interest of Jenny. She knew when Peyton or Jake found out that she was still conversing with Nikki she would put even more distance in their relationship. It had been two days since that night at the pool and she hadn't talked to Jake at all and her conversations with Peyton had been less than friendly.
They were leaving today, only her and Lucas but that's what she had wanted. Coming to Palm Beach had practically destroyed her relationship with Lucas, which only by a miracle was saves, and she believed that if she stayed here any longer her relationships with Lucas and Jake would just deteriorate faster. She wouldn't allow that to happen if she could help it.
Lucas was at the Scott's now, saying goodbye to Dan before heading over to see Karen and Keith. She didn't go with him, opting to say her goodbyes over the phone. She threw the last of her clothes into her Gucci suitcase and shut it, feeling extremely proud of herself for fitting all of her new clothes she had bought in the suitcase.
There was a knock on her door and she answered it, already expecting Haley and Nancy to come over. "Hey you two." She greeted absently while making sure she wasn't leaving anything.
Nancy made herself comfortable on the bed. "Peyton's on the warpath when it comes to you." She said. "What'd you do to her?"
Brooke had forgotten that Nathan, Haley, and Nancy knew nothing about what had transpired two days ago. Brooke rolled her eyes. "Lucas and I sided with Nikki when Nikki came to see Jenny."
"Why are you siding with that psychopath?" Haley said surprised. "She made Jake's life a living hell in high school. He was always looking over his shoulder waiting for the next stunt she was going to pull."
"I was an idiot in high school too Haley, you didn't know me then but I was. I was angry teenager trying to get some attention from my parents and I did everything possible to do it but look at me now I'm different. I've changed." Brooke said. "If I can't give Nikki a chance what right do I have to ask any of you to view me as anything other than the slut and the attention seeker that I was in high school."
"Brooke…" Haley started.
"No listen to me, Hales you're one of the most forgiving people I know, I mean look at you and Nathan how can you not see that Jake and Peyton are being ridiculous about this? That woman has the right to see her own daughter!" Noticing that she wasn't getting anywhere with Haley she turned to Nancy.
"Hey don't ask me, I'm not close enough to Peyton or Jake to try to give them advice about anything." Nancy said putting her hands up.
Lucas opened the door to their hotel room then and Brooke smiled happy that he was back and she had someone on her side once again. "Hey baby." She said.
He kissed her cheek. "Hey Brooke, hi you two." He directed towards Haley and Nancy. "What's up with all the mean looks Haley's sending my way?" He asked her.
"I can't believe after all of the stuff that Nikki put Jake through you're going to defend her!" Haley said confused.
"Hales what right do I have to advise someone to keep their daughter away from her mother?" Lucas asked her.
Brooke could see that Haley was struggling between what she knew was right and her loyalty to an old friend. "Hales, it's not choosing between your friends and the enemy. Its understanding what the right thing is to do."
Haley gave Brooke a tight lipped smile. "What you and Luke are saying, it makes sense, but I can't go against Jake, it wouldn't sit right with me."
Brooke sighed tiredly. "Whatever, you know I gave my opinion and it's up to them whether they want to take my advice or not." She grabbed her bags and handed them to Lucas. "We need to go if we're going to catch this airplane."
Lucas held her gaze, concern washed over his features. "Brooke are you okay?" He asked.
"No" She answered honestly, "but I'll get over it." She smiled reassuringly and urged him out the door. "I'll be down in a second; I just need to double check that we got everything."
Lucas left leaving Haley and Nancy alone with Brooke once again. "Are you sure you don't want us to drive with you down to the airport?" Nancy asked. "Not like there is anything to do around here."
"I'm sure Nance, you need to enjoy your vacation. Working with Nathan everyday has to give you gray hairs."
Nancy cracked a smiled. "Most of the time, but he's like my brother so I'll deal with it, plus I have Haley to kick him out the house whenever he annoys me too much."
Haley giggled and hugged Brooke tightly. "We'll see you in a week okay?"
Nancy took her turn and hugged Brooke. "You'll be fine without us for a couple of days right?"
Brooke rolled her eyes. "I lived most of my life without you, I'm sure I could go a week more."
Nancy put her hand to her heart in mock hurt. "Oh Brooke, you wound me, you really do."
Brooke laughed at her and then headed for the door waving at the two. "Since my two lovely best friends aren't talking to me could you guys tell them that Lucas and I left?" She smiled slightly. "Hopefully they'll be over it by the time you guys get back to New York."
Nancy snorted. "I'll make sure to pass along the message that they need to get their shit together. They have no reason to be mad at you, all you were doing was trying to help."
Brooke sighed. "Nance, if they would see it that way everything would be better but they don't."
Brooke looked around the room again, almost feeling sad that she was leaving Florida. But then again, no matter whom she met here or what happened here her home would always be in New York.
"Goodbye Florida…" She muttered to herself as she closed the hotel room door. "Can't say I'll miss you all that much." (A/N: Hehe, nothing against Florida! I live there you know!)
Lucas watched amused as Brooke flung herself on his bed in his penthouse. Their return to the airport, subsequent two hour flight, and arrival at New York had taken a lot out of them. He was amazed that Brooke had any energy left in her; all he wanted to do was take a long hot shower and go to bed.
"You know Luke." Brooke said thoughtfully. "I like Florida and everything but I don't think I'd ever give up living in New York for anything." She flipped through his laminated collection of take out menus. "I mean, you wouldn't need to have a laminated binder filled with menus if you were living in Florida. I bet there aren't many fast food restaurants to choose from."
He looked at her. "Are you picking on my collection?"
She giggled. "No, I love your take out collection! How would we eat? I don't cook and you're kitchen-phobic."
"I'm not scared of the kitchen!" He protested indignantly. "I just have horrible childhood experiences from it."
Her giggles turned into full fledged laughter. "I know, don't remind me. The horrible hot frying pan incident, the milk incident, and all those other dumb accidents you've had."
He smiled, crossing the room and pulling her to him. "I love you." He whispered.
He caught her guilty look and immediately kissed her hard, hoping to erase any doubt she may have. "I don't want an answer remember?"
She nodded but a sad look still graced her pretty face. "I want to say it back to you though." She murmured. "I don't know why I can't."
"It's fine." He insisted. "Really, it is. I don't mind Brooke you know that. I'll wait as long as it takes for you to say it back."
Their eyes locked in a battle of the wills. Lucas not planning on letting Brooke worry herself over it. He didn't want to force her feelings. He knew sometimes he was overbearing with his own feelings but he didn't want to push her if he wasn't what she wanted. Finally, Brooke dropped her eyes, choosing to play with his hands instead.
"Do you want Chinese?" She asked softly after a few minutes.
He kissed her forehead. "Yeah, I'll take Chinese. I'm going to go take a shower."
She nodded absently and he went into the bathroom, peaking outside again to make sure she was busy before turning the shower on full blast and pulling out his cell phone. As soon as the girl picked up he gave a shaky sigh. "I'm pushing her again."
"You don't mean to." Haley said diplomatically. "You're over affectionate Luke I don't think I could picture you not spouting 'I love you' every ten seconds to her."
"I think…I think she feels bad that she's not saying it back to me." He said miserable. "I don't want to push her." He repeated.
He heard noises in the background and sighed again. "I'm interrupting something aren't I?"
"Nothing that can't be continued later Luke." Haley said. "Nathan and I were getting ready to go over to your parents place."
"Why would you go and do a silly thing like that?" He said joking.
"Nancy decided that she wants to leave as soon as possible and tonight is the last night she'll be able to see your parents."
The doorbell rang and Lucas jumped in the shower to get himself wet before shut it off, figuring that Brooke would get suspicious if he stayed any longer. "Food's here, I'll talk to you later."
"Alright, and you know everything is going to be fine." Haley said.
"Yeah I know."
He stepped out the bathroom and plastered a happy expression on his face. "It feels good to be back in New York." He admitted sitting at the table. "At least we know for sure no crazy ex-girlfriends are going to come out of the woodwork with something else to bother us with."
Brooke grinned. "I heard you were quite the player back in college and with all this traveling you do for the agency how do I know you don't have some girlfriends strewn across the globe?"
"Oh just a couple in Boston and California, and I'm sending child support over to some girl in Japan. Those geisha's are lethal." He answered cheekily.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure they are." Spooning out some of the rice for herself she munched on her food thoughtfully. "I'm probably way behind with the next issue of Filly." She muttered.
"My voicemail's backed up too." Lucas said sighing. "I guess the vacation is up."
"For now, but we're the head of our respective companies. When we need another vacation we can take it." She paused. "And yes Mr. Workaholic, you can take another vacation in the same year. If I have anything to say about it, we'll be going somewhere for Christmas."
"But that's only a few months away!" He protested.
"Operative phrase being a few months. Luke, you put your life on hold for your clients and it's not necessary. I know you love your job and it helps you deal with the fact that you can't play basketball but there are other people in your life that need you around too."
"Brooke." He said exasperated. "You don't know how important my job is to me. It may not give me a whole lot of free time but it makes me happy to be there for others."
"If it makes you happy to be there for others why can't you be there for your family, your friends, for me?" She asked.
He shut his eyes. "Remember when we first started spending time together and you asked me why I didn't have a girlfriend?" He countered.
She nodded. "You said that it was your job."
"Exactly. The number one reason why women broke up with me is because they felt they were second place to my career. After years of going through break up after break up I figured out the warning signs that they might be thinking that. They ask me to cut back on my hours, the suggest trips knowing I can't make them, they get disappointed when I break a lunch date, and they complain when I can't come home early enough." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Brooke…you're starting to act like that."
"Luke I'm not insecure enough to think that I'm second to your job, the amount of times you tell me you love me everyday is testament to the fact that I'm not second." She started. "But if you expect this relationship to go any further we have to learn to make compromises."
"I can compromise…" He began.
She laughed. "No Luke you can't, not when it comes to your job! You were doing it just now. As soon as I even brought up the subject of you spending too much time at work you started reading into it. Just because I ask you to make some more free time doesn't mean I hate your job or I hate your lifestyle. It simply means I want you to see that there are things out there besides your suits and your office."
"That may be the case Brooke, but it started out like that with everyone else…"
She cut him off and glared hard at him. "I am NOT everyone else. I'm not Tamara, Shauna, or Anna. I'm Brooke Davis. I'm not going to be compared to your ex-girlfriends!"
He looked at her defeated. "Brooke…I don't want to argue with you."
"We're not arguing we're having a civilized conversation." She answered. "That whether you like it or not we're going to have."
"Brooke what the hell is this about?" He asked getting angry. "Why are you suddenly bringing this up? We just left from a vacation and you work just as much as me!"
"I don't take my work home with me though! My work isn't accessible to me 24/7!" Brooke shot back. "Last month you ran yourself into the ground and ended up in a hospital for it. Do you really think it's wise to be working yourself so hard again?"
"My hours weren't the only thing contributing to my health problems Brooke! I run a company, I travel a lot, and I'm dealing with personal problems everyday."
"I'm sorry okay?" Brooke finally said. "I worry about you, I care about you, and I know it's selfish of me to expect you to cut back on doing something you love, but I'm probably not going to stop so you should get used to it."
He looked into her sincere eyes and contemplated what Brooke was saying. She was right when she said that he wasn't careful with his health. His heart condition was directly linked to the stress in his life, and going the way he was now if it hadn't been genetic he would have been well on his way to acquiring the disease. "I should apologize too." He murmured taking her hand. "You're right, I'm not really cautious when it comes to my health and I need to be. Maybe I do need to cut down on the hours I work."
"You're serious you're going to think about it?" She asked hopefully.
He nodded. "I'll work with my team and I'll figure something out."
She smiled and then kissed him hard on the mouth. Pulling back she looked at him with a suddenly dazed expression. "You really do love me." She said in awe.
He looked at her strangely. "Of course I do…Brooke you know that you just said it yourself that I say it to you enough."
"You know the saying 'actions speak louder than words?'" She asked.
"I think everyone does, what are you getting at?"
"The same night that you told me why you didn't have a girlfriend I also told you that it was because you never found a girl that you truly cared enough about to change your life for."
"And I agreed." He interjected.
She smiled widely. "Yes, and you agreed. Well look who just changed their schedule around for me."
"I did." He answered.
She grinned. "You did."
"It's because I love you." He reminded her.
She nodded. "It's because you love me."
"So when are you going to start believing it?" He asked.
"I believe you, and I believe in us…always." She said.
"I'm glad then."
She didn't have to say it yet, Lucas decided. But he knew that she loved him. It was in the way that she talked, the way that she looked at him, and the way that she worried about him. He may doubt it sometimes but she reaffirms it every minute he's with her, and if he had to pinpoint one exact reason why this woman had him convinced that she was the one it would be how much she said without actually saying it. He loved her, every part of her, and that wouldn't change no matter how long he had to wait.
And he would wait, no matter how long it took because he was happy. And a wise man once said: "When unhappy, one doubts everything; when happy, one doubts nothing."
TBC
A/N: The quote used to end this chapter was by Joseph Roux from his book Meditations of a Parish Priest. I really loved this ending, and I'm rarely satisfied with anything I write so that is saying something. I'm going on a class field trip March 17th to the 20th so I'm going to be posting twice on the 16th. Look out for that! As always, reviews are my drug!