Who Would Have Thought?

by Baley

Brooke and Haley have been secretly seeing each other for a month. They knew they couldn't keep their relationship a secret forever. Slowly, people start to find out and they have to deal with the consequences. BrookeHaley, hints of PeytonTaylor. Complete

30. My Happy Ending

Author's Note: OMG, it's me! Are you guys in shock right now, or what? Okay, I would usually apologize for the really long wait for the last chapter, but I'm hoping that the length of it makes up for it. Believe me when I tell you that I never meant for this chapter to be so long, but my fingers just kept writing away, and it ended up being 58 pages. Crazy, right? Anyway, it almost killed me to finish this and the proofreading was even worse, so you guys better enjoy it, and you better leave me some reviews, or I might just take my life for this incredible waste of time. Well, this is it. I hope you enjoy and are satisfied with the ending.

This chapter is dedicated to Kristin for being awesome and staying up late with me to make sure I got this done. And to Jodi for being incredibly patient and great through this whole thing. I hope you guys enjoy.

…WWHT…

Haley closed her eyes in frustration for a moment, hoping to collect herself. This was so not going the way she had hoped it would. Why couldn't she just calm herself down and take a deep breath? Why was she so stressed about this? Oh right, she was going to lose her virginity tonight to the woman she loved more than anything. And if that wasn't nerve racking enough, the women just happened to be Brooke Davis, the most beautiful and most popular girl in town. Okay, her hands are shaking again.

"James, stop it," she hissed at herself. She could do this, she could. She had been ready for a while now, so why was she freaking out so much now? Maybe it was because those other times, she knew deep down that Brooke would stop her before they went too far to come back. Tonight though, they wouldn't be stopping anything, she had a feeling Brooke would know that. Tonight was the night and Haley had never been more terrified in her entire life.

She wasn't terrified of the fact that she would no longer be a virgin. Truth was, she was getting sick of that title. And it wasn't even the fact that she was so completely inexperienced either. Sure, she'd never had sex, and she was well aware that it was more difficult that it appeared, especially in this situation, but she'd read things, seen things and she remembered the way Brooke reacted to her touch before. She didn't imagine that it took a very skillful person to please her. At least it didn't for Haley, as Brooke had told her that no one had ever made her feel that good so easily.

No, it wasn't the physical part that scared Haley; it was the emotional part that scared her. Yes, she trusted Brooke with all of her heart, but that didn't mean she should. With all the pain and heartbreak that Brooke had put her through over the last month when they had just been 'fooling around' had taught her that sometimes people you think you can trust will hurt you, even if they don't mean to.

It made her feel sick to know that she was even capable of thinking Brooke would have been just using her for sex, like she was just some kind of conquest that she wanted to nail – deflower the Virgin Haley kinda thing – but she couldn't push the thought out of her head. She had a suspicion that their relationship might have been about that to Brooke at the beginning, but not now, there was no way. Over the past five weeks though, Brooke had surprised her more than once, so she'd have to trust her, even if in her head, she knew that she probably shouldn't.

Haley James was known for her tendency to over think things, she never did anything without a plan, and most of the time she would agree with people who said that, but not this time. Right now, she believed she was justified in over thinking this. Sex, at least for her and for her relationship with Brooke, was a huge deal. After everything that she had gone through with her parents and her other siblings, even Nathan, it was a huge risk for her to give her heart and body to Brooke so fully like that.

But after and over everything, she was willing to take that risk. If it meant that she and Brooke would be even closer, if they could have a better relationship where they were more connected to each other, where they could love each other to the most of their abilities, she would take that risk a million times over.

Because at the end of the day, she was at a point in her life where it was all of Brooke or having absolutely nothing at all. Much like Brooke's revelation in the pool house last week, being able to even consider taking the leap to give Brooke her entire self, to give her her soul, told Haley everything she needed to know about Brooke and her feelings for her.

Never, over the course of her 17-year-old life had she even considered trusting someone enough to give them her virginity, not even Lucas. She had always thought she wouldn't find someone she loved and trusted as much, if not more than she would love and trust her future husband, whoever he would have been. Then she found Brooke.

Brooke was everything to her. She was never happier than she was when she was with Brooke, she had never felt more special or more loved, and she had never loved anyone or anything as much as she loved Brooke. She never even could have imagined loving someone as much as she loved her, she didn't think it was possible. She always used to watch movies and hear them talk about love, and she always though it was ridiculous; that you could never love someone that much. Boy, was she wrong.

She loved her, that was never the question, but did Haley trust her? Did Haley trust Brooke to feel the same way? Did she trust Brooke with everything she had not to break her heart again, tomorrow or years from now? Did she trust that she and Brooke would always be in love, always be together, through the good times and the bad ones?

Yeah, she did.

"Wow…" Without a second thought, Haley grabbed her phone off her desk and punched in the ever so familiar numbers of the only person that could help her right now.

…WWHT…

"P. Sawyer!" Brooke yelled across the store. She knew her friend had gone over there a few minutes ago, but she didn't know what the hell she was doing. She leaned over in the chair she was sitting in as she waited for the boy to come back out with the right size of the shoes she wanted, and spotted Peyton looking at a pair of orange Converse shoes like she was a six year old at Christmas. "Damn it, Pey! You have like five pairs of those already!"

"Excuse me," she mumbled to the nice lady that was helping her, before putting her dream shoes back in their place. She sent the woman another smile before stalking back over to where Brooke was sitting, plopping herself down in the empty chair beside her and crossing her arms to show that she was angry with Brooke. Brooke rolled her eyes and let them wander around the store, looking for either the kid that was supposed to be getting her shoes or Taylor. After a few minutes of pouty silence, Brooke finally turned to Peyton.

"So, do you know why Taylor asked us to go shop…"

"For your information," Peyton promptly cut her off. "I only have three pairs of Converse shoes, and none of them are orange! Which is my favorite color!" It took Brooke a moment to process the rapid topic change, before she gave Peyton a WTF look.

"You're favorite color is black!" she shot back, raising an eyebrow, daring Peyton to deny it. She saw the blonde open her mouth to protest and continued. "When have you ever worn orange? Oh, that's right, never!"

"I have so worn orange!" Before Peyton had a chance to retell Brooke the exact day and time that she wore orange, her cell phone rang. She snarled at Brooke for good measure, before digging into her purse and retrieving it. She looked at the name that was flashing on the front in confusion, before flipping it open and pushing it her ear. "Hales?"

"Hey, Pey," Haley greeted, her voice both nervous and a little bit excited. "I know that you're out with Tay and Brookie, but I really need you're help." Brooke's ears had perked up at the mention of her girlfriend's name. Why would Haley be calling Peyton when she knew that they were together? Why wouldn't she want to talk to her?

"Help?" Peyton repeated, concern slipping into her voice, her childish argument with Brooke completely forgotten. Brooke immediately sat up in her seat at her words. Haley needed help? And she didn't call her? Was her phone off or something? "Hales, are you okay?"

"Oh, God," Haley sighed, cursing herself for not explaining. She could hear the concern and worry in her best friend's voice and she could practically hear Brooke demanding to talk to her. "No, no, I'm totally fine, don't give Brooke the phone."

"O-kay," she said in confusing, drawing out the word to make sure Haley knew that she didn't understand what the hell was going on. She rolled her eyes at Brooke's gestures to give her the phone. "One sec, Hales. You're girlfriend is being a bitch." She covered up the mouthpiece of the phone, but could hear Haley giggling in her ear on the other end. "What?"

"Is she okay?" Brooke asked, annoyed and impatient, not to mention worried about Haley. She had just gotten out of the hospital a week ago for a head injury and she still didn't really trust Theresa and Bevin. "What does she want? Why didn't she call me? Can I talk to her?"

"Yes, I don't know, I don't know, and no," Peyton answered, trying to remember the right order of her persistent questioning. Brooke's eyes widened at the last answer.

"What, why not?"

"Cause she said so," Peyton sing songed in a smug voice. She gingerly stood up, not giving Brooke another glance and walked away, uncovering the phone to talk to Haley again. Brooke heard her laugh as she glanced back over her shoulder to look at her with an amused grin. "Yeah, she's pissed." Peyton turned back around just in time to see spot the display of shoeboxes before she walked right into them, causing them all to tumble to the floor, bringing her with them. Brooke burst out laughing as the blonde quickly stood up like nothing had happened before quickly rushing out of the store while explaining what had just happened to Haley on the phone. Brooke shook her head and turned back in her seat, a huge smile on her face.

"Hey," Taylor greeted, coming out from the back, a shoebox in her hands. "The kid told me to bring these out to you." Brooke flashed her the smile and Taylor sat down in the seat Peyton had just been in. "Where'd Pey Pey go?"

"Your sister called," Brooke informed her, grabbing the box out of the blonde's hand and pulling out the shoes. She held them up at eye level to inspect them for a moment before bending down and slipping them on her feet. "She walked off."

"She called Pey?" Taylor asked, apparently finding it strange as well, that Haley would call Peyton instead of her or Brooke. Brooke glared at her, warning her not to bother asking, and she got the point. She glanced towards the entrance to see if she could spot Peyton, and noticed some of the staff trying to fix one of the displays. "What happened over there?" Brooke glanced at her quickly and laughed when she realized what she was asking about.

"Oh, your girlfriend knocked it over," Brooke informed her, widening her eyes the moment she realized she had just said that out loud. She was so used to joking around and bugging Haley about Peyton and Taylor, she didn't even stop to think about who she was talking to.

"God, Peyton is such a clumsy ass…" Taylor started to say but trailed off as Brooke's words finally registered. Her face flooded with confusion for a moment, before her eyes grew wide. "Wait, what? My what?"

"I, ah, I didn't mean…" Brooke tried, but stumbled over her words. The last thing she wanted was for Taylor to find out that she knew what was going on. It was obvious that she liked Peyton, and there was no doubt in Brooke's mind that she had feelings for her, but if Taylor knew that she was being so obvious, she might start acting all weird around Peyton, and Brooke didn't want that at all. But there was a small part of her that couldn't help get excited that Taylor automatically knew she was talking about Peyton when she said girlfriend. "I, umm…"

"All right, girlies," Peyton greeted as she came back into the store. Both girls broke the intense eye contact that had and turned back to look at Peyton, as she made a point of keeping away from the display she had knocked down. The staff cleaning it up gave her a dirty look when she didn't offer to help. When she reached them, Brooke risked a quick glance at Taylor to make sure she wasn't doing anything weird. "Sorry to end this day of shopping fun, but I must be off."

"Where are you going?" Brooke asked, her voice still a little nervous from the questioning from Taylor. Peyton glanced at her as she bent down and grabbed her purse off the floor where Taylor had put it when she sat down.

"Haley called with an SOS," she explained, hoping that Brooke would just leave it at that. Peyton had some kind of an idea what was going on, Taylor had told her when she invited her for the shopping day that Haley was at home, setting up a surprise for Brooke. She was pretty sure what the surprise was, but she wasn't certain. "Asked if I could go over there."

"You said she was okay," Brooke said, standing up. Peyton was starting to worry her again. "She's okay, right?"

"She's fine, it's something else," Peyton told her, eyeing Taylor for some help. She was the mastermind behind this whole thing; she needed to think of something to tell Brooke that wouldn't give anything away. "There's no need to worry, okay?"

"If you say so," she trailed off, not really knowing if she was okay or not. Peyton rolled her eyes and was starting to think that she should have just lied about the whole thing, saying her dad had called when she was on the phone with Haley or something. She should have known that Brooke was going to be suspicious. "But you're sure she's okay?"

"I'm sure, I promise," Peyton repeated, starting to feel less annoyed with her best friend. Brooke was just concerned about Haley, that was all. She would have been too if Haley hadn't repeatedly told her that she was okay, that she just needed help with something else. "I gotta go, though. I'll see you guys later, okay?" Brooke nodded, not sure what else to say.

"Sure thing, Blondie," Taylor answered, sending her a look to let her know that she was doing well. She didn't have to be a genius to know what Haley's problem was, and she was glad that her sister hadn't called her. She loved Haley more than anything, but the last thing she wanted to do was talk her baby sister through sex with her girlfriend. She glanced at Brooke, who wouldn't meet her gaze. "Tell her to call me after."

"I will," Peyton nodded, knowing what she was getting at. "Later." With one last wave and smile, she was gone, leaving Brooke and Taylor alone again. They stared after her for a moment, both willing her to come back, but for very different reasons. They sat in silence for a couple of moments, while Brooke slipped the shoes off and threw them back in the box. She loved them, but she'd come back for them, she didn't want to stay in this store long enough to pay for them. She didn't want to face Taylor just yet.

"Brooke, about what you said…" Brooke immediately stood up, placing the box on a random shelf and grabbed her purse.

"Okay, time for a new store," she announced, grabbing the blonde's hand and yanking her out of the chair. Taylor looked at her in confusion as she was pulling towards the exit. "There's nothing here I like."

"You were practically having an organism over those shoes," Taylor reminded her, pointing to the box she had left behind. "For a second, I thought you were gonna dump my sister and marry them."

"They're ugly," she threw back, her heart breaking at the words, but she wanted to get out of the store as soon as possible. "And I'd never break up with Haley, let alone for shoes." Even in her hurried state, she'd never let a claim like that slide without shooting it down. Her dumping Haley for any reason? Don't think so. "Come on, we have a whole mall waiting for us."

Taylor sighed, but let herself be dragged along. She knew that Brooke was going to try to pretend that she didn't say what she did, but there was no way Taylor could possibly forget it. Did Brooke know she liked Peyton? Was she really that obvious? Oh, God, did Haley know, too? Peyton? This was going to be a long day.

…WWHT…

It was a well known fact to the people in Tree Hill that you never knock on Peyton Sawyer's front door. If you were her friend, you just walked in because you knew that she was blaring some kind of music. If you were someone selling something, you wouldn't get an answer because she would know it's nobody she'd want to talk to. And so, Peyton didn't feel it was necessary to knock on other people's doors. Especially when they were expecting her.

So, as soon as Peyton jumped out of her old black car, thankful that she had meet Brooke and Taylor at the mall so she had her own car, she let herself into the James home, and made her way up to her best friend's room. She honestly didn't know what to expect, but she was hoping that Haley wasn't going to be asking her for some tips about sex or something extremely scarring like that.

"Hales?" she called out before she got to the door, so Haley wouldn't be too surprised when she opened the door. She knocked lightly and pushed it open, entering the room. It wasn't as extremely unique as her's is, but it was definitely not the same as an average teenage girl's room their age is. Take Brooke's pink and leopard print bedroom for example.

When she entered, she found Haley standing in the middle of the room, playing with her hands nervously and practically biting through her bottom lip to the point of blood spill, and she was shifting foot to foot. The last time Peyton had seen Haley look even close to this nervous was right before her presentation in English a couple of weeks ago, and that did not end well at all, as she remembered with a frown.

"Hey, Hales," she greeted, waving her hand to get the other girl's attention. She shut the door behind her and moved further inside. "Whatcha doing?"

"Thinking," Haley answered quickly, finally realizing that she was no longer alone. She didn't know what happened, one minute she had been positive that she was ready to take this step and she still was, but after she hung up with Peyton, she started to freak out about how to go about all of this. Okay, and now that she had worked through the really hard emotional fears about sex, now she was starting to get scared about the physical side of it. "Okay, no. I'm freaking out, Pey!"

"What are you freaking out about?" Peyton asked slowly, a little freaked out herself by the squeakiness of Haley's extra high voice. She eyed her strangely as she stood in front of her, waiting for her to stop fiddling around nervously with her hands. When she didn't stop for a few moments or answer Peyton's question, the blonde reached out and grabbed a hold of her upper arms to keep her in place. "Haley!"

"What?" Haley asked, bringing her eyes to meet Peyton's. She saw the slight annoyed look there and grinned sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked what you were freaking out about?"

"Everything!" Haley erupted, pulling out of Peyton's grasp so she could pace the length of her room, something she usually did when she was anxious. Peyton threw her head back and let out a silent growl and plopped herself down on the end of Haley's bed so she could watch her walk back and forth. How the hell did she get roped into all of this? Oh yeah, Taylor just had to invite her to go shopping. "You know what's going on tonight, right? You know why I got Tay to distract Brooke?"

"Kinda," Peyton replied with a sigh. Looks like she was getting dragged into this. She loved Haley to death and all, but she did not want to be having this conversation with her. "I mean, Tay told me that you had something special planned and I just figured …"

"I'm gonna have sex tonight!" Haley exclaimed, stopping in mid pace to look at the blonde with wide eyes. "Me, Peyton. Haley Elise James is going to have sex tonight! Before she's married! Do you have any idea how big of a deal that is?"

"If you're so freaked out about it then…"

"Oh, no, it's too late now." Haley shook her head as soon as the words started to leave Peyton's mouth. "The wheels are already set in motion, Peyton. You can't stop a speeding bus!"

"All you have to do is press the brakes," she pointed out. She looked at the expression of sheer fear and horror on Haley's face at the situation and she couldn't help but start to laugh. Soon, her giggles escalated into full on hysterics.

"That's fine," Haley mumbled, starting to pace again. "Just laugh it up, Blondie, I don't mind. It's just my heart and entire mental stability that's on the line here, no need to take it seriously or anything."

"I'm sorry," Peyton told her immediately, but the bursts of giggles that still escaped showed just how sorry she wasn't. "It's just, you look like you're about to have a mental breakdown any second now. I mean, it's just sex."

"Not to me it isn't," Haley snapped. She hated when people said that; 'just' sex. It made her sound like she was a prude or something, and she didn't think that waiting until you were married, or at least until you were in love with someone to have sex with them made her a prude. It just didn't make her a slut, not that she was calling Peyton, or Brooke or her sister a slut. Well, Tay had her moments, and she'd tell her that to her face, too.

"I know," Peyton told her, sobering up completely at the genuine defensive tone in Haley's voice. She didn't mean to offend her values or beliefs in any way at her comment. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Haley mumbled, her eyes searching the room. She didn't know why she was having such a hard time talking to Peyton about this. She called her over for that exact reason, but now that she was here, she was afraid that her fears would make her sound stupid, especially at the blonde's reaction so far to the situation. "I really don't know what to do, Pey."

"Tell me exactly what you're afraid of." Peyton slid over on the bed and patted the spot beside her, signaling for Haley to sit down beside her. With a sigh and an eye roll for good measure, Haley did what she was told. "Dr. Sawyer is here, tell me your problems, child."

"I love Brooke," Haley began, ignoring the stupid impression that Peyton had just tried, and failed horribly, at doing. "And you know that." Peyton nodded, but didn't say anything. "And I've been ready to do this for a while now, and I've told her that. Hell, we were pretty close to doing it in her room last weekend."

"Ew, when we were downstairs waiting for you?" Peyton made face at the new information, not liking the visual at all. She didn't mind when they kissed or cuddled in front of her, she even thought it was cute, but she really didn't want to be thinking about her two best friends getting it on. No, thank you.

"Yeah," Haley said, a slight smile coming to her face at the grossed out look on Peyton's face. "Hey, we had just made up, give us a little credit." Peyton nodded and smiled at her, letting her know that she wasn't disgusted or anything, just didn't want to think about it. Suddenly, her face fell and her eyes widened as a thought popped into her head.

"Oh my God," she exclaimed, making fake throwing up actions. "I came up like five minutes later. Ew, I could have walked in on you two doing it!"

"That would have made my first time memorable," Haley laughed. Maybe she had called the right person. No one could get her laughing quicker than Peyton, especially when she was uncomfortable with something. They shared a laugh, though Peyton's was a little uneasy, before Haley let out a frustrated sigh and plopped down in the chair in front of her computer. "Why is this so hard?"

"Because you're in love," Peyton answered simply, a sweet smile on her face as she thought about just how in love Haley and Brooke were. Haley stared at Peyton with a raised eyebrow.

"If I'm in love, shouldn't that make this easier?" she questioned, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees so she was eye level with the blonde. "I shouldn't have all these fears, and all these doubts about what's gonna happened tonight, or tomorrow. I should be able to trust Brooke with everything, shouldn't I?"

"Not at all," Peyton disagreed with a laugh, shaking her head. "Haley, if you weren't in love, you wouldn't even be thinking about these things. You know what I was thinking about when I lost my virginity to Nathan?"

"What?" Haley was afraid to ask. Just thinking about Nathan and Peyton together made her sick to her stomach. Her best friend deserved so much better. Not that Nathan wasn't a sweetie now, but back then, he was anything but.

"What size condoms he uses." Haley stared blankly at Peyton, trying to figure out what exactly her point was.

"Peyton!" she exclaimed, leaning against her chair and throwing her head back. "Brooke doesn't need condoms!" Peyton growled and rolled her eyes.

"Haley, that is not my point," she corrected, getting frustrated already. Why did Haley always suddenly turn stupid when she was nervous? "Haley, look at me." She waited until Haley brought her head back down before she continued. "What you're going through, that's completely normal, okay? You're giving Brooke everything that you have left. You're really putting yourself out there for the first time, and to a girl that, God love her, has never had a boyfriend. It's completely understandable that you would be nervous, and second guessing yourself."

"Really?" Haley questioned, her voice hopeful. "It doesn't make me a terrible girlfriend that I don't know if I can trust my girlfriend enough to sleep with her?" Peyton laughed at the genuine doubt in her voice.

"Of course not, sweetie," Peyton promised her. "It's good to have doubts, that means that you have to think about it, and in the end, that usually leads you to the right decision. I wish I had thought it through."

"With Nathan?" Haley asked, nonchalantly.

"No," Peyton corrected, surprising Haley. The brunette's head shot up at her words, her eyes wide. "With Jake." Haley opened her mouth to say something, but when no words came out, she quickly shut it again. "Yeah, I kinda regret that."

"But, I…I thought… huh?" Haley stuttered, trying to figure out what the hell Peyton was talking about. She regretted sleeping with Jake? But they were in love. Just like she and Brooke were. "You regret sleeping with Jake?" Peyton nodded. "But you guys are so in love."

"Nah," Peyton waved off, shaking her head at the words. "I'm more in love with Jenny, or the idea of Jake and Jenny than I am with Jake. I guess you could say that I love him, but I don't think I could ever be in love with him. He's a great guy, you know, and we click, but there's just no… I don't know, something's just missing. It's been missing since the beginning."

"Wow," Haley breathed, her face a picture of pure shock. "I had no idea. You guys always looked so happy."

"No, we were happy," Peyton quickly reassured her, not wanting her to think that she was in a dead end relationship or anything. "We are happy. It's just; I could have so much more. If I spent the rest of my life with Jake, I'd be okay with that. He's a great guy, and I love Jenny to death, but there's just no spark, I guess."

"Really?" Peyton nodded. "That's crazy. Did you always know?"

"I think I did," Peyton answered, unsurely. She had thought about that a lot since she realized that her and Jake weren't working out, but she still hadn't come up with an answer. "I don't think that I was ever in love with him. I like to think that on some level, I was just kidding myself. But I know for sure when I knew that we would never work."

"When?"

"The first time I saw you and Brooke together," Peyton answered with a smile on her face. Haley blushed, smiling slightly as she bowed her head. "Hell, if I'm being honest with myself, I knew when Brooke told me about you guys. Just the way she talked about you, the look on her face when she did, I could tell that she was in love. I could never sound or look like that when I talked about Jake."

"Pey, that doesn't mean you aren't in love with Jake," Haley tried to convince her. She didn't know why she was fighting so hard against the thought. Maybe it was because she always saw them as the perfect couple, and if Peyton and Jake weren't in love, where the hell did that leave her and Brooke?

"And then I saw you two together," Peyton continued, knowing that ending her relationship with Jake over that conversation with Brooke would be crazy. "All week long, I've been watching the two of you, and it's so beautiful."

"But you and Jake are so good together," Haley continued to fight; refusing to believe what Peyton was trying to tell her. "You guys are like the perfect couple."

"Key word being like," Peyton pointed out with a soft smile. "It's okay, Hales. Me and Jake aren't meant to be together, I've excepted it. I knew it wouldn't last from the beginning, but I'm always willing to be proved wrong, you know?"

"Yeah," Haley nodded, sadly. "That happened with me and Brooke. I was sure from the beginning that our relationship was going to be doomed from the moment she kissed me in the café, but she proved me wrong."

"She does that a lot," Peyton laughed, knowing how her best friend was capable of surprising people. "And just so you know, me and Jake aren't the perfect couple, that would be you and Brookie."

"You really think so?" Haley asked. She thought that was really sweet of Peyton to say, but at the same time, she didn't like the pressure. She hated to be thought of as the relationship that other people wanted. She remembered the way she looked at Peyton and Jake together back when her and Brooke were having their drama, wishing they could have a relationship like that. Haley didn't want that kind of pressure on her shoulders. But it looked like it was too late.

"I do." They shared a smile and soon silence fell over them for a moment. Peyton's eyes wondered around the room, as she bit her tongue, fighting over whether she should say what she's been wanting to say for so long. Haley just spilt her heart out to her, maybe she could do that same. Well, one of her secrets was already out now, why not just getting it all over with. "Do you want to know the other reason I knew that me and Jake weren't right for each other?"

"Sure," Haley answered before she met Peyton's gaze. When she saw the look in the blonde's eyes, she knew that this was big. Haley's heart skipped a beat as she ran through the different possibilities in her head. Was Peyton about to saw the words that would add another reason why this was going to be the best night of Brooke's life?

"I kinda like someone else."

…WWHT…

"I kinda like this," Brooke admitted as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Great, so can we go now?" Taylor asked from the other side of the changing room door. She had shopping bags resting all around her, all of which were Brooke's because she was broker than a joke, and wasn't about to waste her hard earned money, okay her money, on some ugly trendy sweater than was way over priced. That was what Brooke's closet was for.

"You're worse than your sister, you know that?" Brooke asked, slipping out of the skimpy lingerie she had been trying on and moving to grab her pants. She heard Taylor snort on the other side. "She can't go shopping with me. The first time I dragged her to the mall, she was almost in tears by the end of the day."

"Well, us James' aren't exactly known for our patience," the older girl reminded her.

"That's the understatement of the century," Brooke laughed, pulling her shirt over her head and grabbing the discarded lingerie before opening the door to see Taylor. The blonde looked up at her with glazed eyes, making it visible just how much this trip to the mall was taking out of her. "Are you ready now, Mrs. Cranky Pants?"

"Yes!" Taylor quickly exclaimed, swiftly grabbing all the bags around her in both her hands and standing up without dropping a thing. "I've been ready. I was born ready."

"Got it," Brooke laughed, sticking her tongue out at the older girl before moving back over to the rack. Taylor spotted the material between Brooke's fingers and noticed that she was about to put it back.

"You're not getting that?" She wanted to be slick about it, not wanting Brooke to think that she'd have any reason to wear it, even though Taylor knew that she did. Brooke looked at the material in her hands and thought about it. If she got it, that would just make her look like she was expecting Haley to jump into bed with her, which she wasn't. She was willing to take it slow, just like she'd told Haley over and over. She meant every word of it.

"Nah," Brooke shrugged, moving to put it on the rack. She looked hot in it, there was no denying that, and she knew that if Haley ever saw her in it, she would pop a gazette, but that was for another day, she supposed. "Maybe some other time."

"I did not just sit in this store for half an hour while you tried on five different sets of lingerie for you to not buy anything!" Brooke looked at her with wide eyes, trying to figure out what the hell Taylor was talking about. She wasn't angry two seconds ago, and she didn't freak out when she left any of the other stores empty handed. "Now get your ass over to the counter and pay for that, so I can get some damn lunch because I'm starving!"

Without another word or glance, Taylor stormed out of the store, all billion bags in her hands, and went straight in the direction of the food court. Brooke stood in the middle of the store for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. Blinking a couple of times to clear her head, Brooke made her way over to the counter and did as she was told.

"Wow," the lady commented with a smile when she saw Brooke's purchase. She found the price tag and scanned it through. "Big date tonight?"

"I think so," Brooke answered, not too sure about that herself. All the signs were pointing to something special; Taylor mysteriously calling her up and inviting her to a day of shopping, Peyton getting an emergency phone call from a freaked out Haley, and Taylor making her buy lingerie. A bright smile came to her face. "I hope so."

"Been together long?" She was just making polite conversation, Brooke was sure, but that didn't mean she was going to pass up the chance to gush about her sweetie. She pretty much used any chance she could to brag about her Haley.

"A month last weekend," Brooke answered quickly. She couldn't help the wide smile that came to her face at the words. She had never been with anyone for longer than two days, and given the way things had started off with Haley, she thought that a month was a pretty amazing feat. They had talked about everything that had happened between the night in the café and the night of the dance, and decided that they were going to count that as them being a couple. Saying that they didn't act like a couple before would be putting it nicely, but it helped them get to where they were today.

"And tonight's the big night?" The lady was about to tell Brooke the total, but she had already seen in on the till and was already starting to pull out her wallet. Brooke looked up at her with a smile and crossed her fingers. Suddenly, this didn't feel right, she felt like she was in the locker room telling her buddies that she was getting lucky tonight. That's not what her and Haley were about at all. "I'm assuming he's a hottie?" The woman handed Brooke back her change and her bag with her purchase inside.

"She's gorgeous." Sending the speechless woman an extra bright smile, she grabbed her bag and practically skipped out of the store to find Taylor. She spotted her at one of the tables, both of their meals already bought and opened. "Why Taylor James, are my eyes deceiving me, or did you actually just buy me lunch?"

"It's payback," she answered, her mouth full of hamburger already. She wasn't one to wait for people out of the politeness or courtesy. She glanced up at Brooke before taking another large bit. "There's poison in it. Now sit down and eat your damn food."

"How can I refuse that sparkling sales pitch?" Brooke teased. She tossed the bag she was holding into the ever-growing pile of bags and plopped down in the hard metal chair. When Taylor's only reply was noisy chewing, Brooke rolled her eyes and decided that she should just follow the blonde's lead and eat her food.

After about five minutes of listening to each other chew, Taylor finally decided that it was now or never. It was the perfect time to question Brooke about her earlier comment. There was nowhere for her to run, and she had all of the things that she bought today, so she doubted that Brooke would take off.

"Hey, Brooke?" The brunette's head snapped up at her name and nodded her head, signaling that she was listening because her mouth was full. "Don't freak out or anything, but I was just kinda wondering about what you said before?" Brooke felt her heart drop as she rapidly chewed her fries so she could say something to Taylor.

"Before?" was the only thing that she ended up saying after all of that. Taylor had to fight the urge not to smack her. She knew that Brooke knew exactly what the hell she was talking about.

"About Peyton being my girlfriend," Taylor elaborated, letting Brooke know that she wasn't going to be fooled by whatever lame excuse that she was sure Brooke had all ready to use.

"It was nothing really, I just…" Brooke started to deny, but trailed off when she say the look in Taylor's eyes. All right, this wasn't going to work. It looked like Brooke was just going to have to try the truth for once. "Okay, you want the truth?" Taylor nodded. "I think that you and Peyton secretly have the hots for each other, but both of you are too chicken shit to do anything about it. And Haley and me have known for over a week that you want Peyton in the pants, and I've been trying to think up a plan to get the two of you to admit your feelings because I think it would be too perfect if you two got together. But Haley doesn't see it, she keeps telling me to stop trying to force feelings that aren't there. But they are there; because I see the way you look at Peyton. It's the same way I used to look at Haley. You want her, but you think you can't have her. But you can have her, Tay, because Peyton looks at you the exact same way. And I just wish that you would pull your head out of your ass and see it too, because trust me, you have the chance at something better than you could ever imagine possible. And if you don't get off your fat ass and tell her how you feel, it's going to be too late. And I would hate to see that happen to two people I really care about."

Taylor sat in complete shock, letting Brooke's speech wash over her. She couldn't believe that Brooke had just said all of that in one breath. And she couldn't believe that Brooke would even have the nerve to say something like that to her. Especially when she knew that Haley would kick her ass if she found out about it. She couldn't deny the things that she said though. God help her, she actually thought Brooke made sense.

"When did you know?"

"Huh?" Brooke asked, mouth hung open giving Taylor a much unwanted view of her partly chewed food. She expected a bunch of questions or replies, denying everything that she had just said, but that she was not expecting.

"When did you know I liked Peyton?" Taylor repeated, finding it amusing that she was the one leaving Brooke in shock now.

"You're not going to deny it?" Brooke asked. She had this all planned out. She had a bunch of other inspirational speeches ready that she had been thinking about for a couple of days now. Taylor was just messing it all up.

"Nope," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders as if it were nothing. She was Taylor James; she wasn't new to things like this. Well, maybe actual relationships, and actual feelings, which were both things she wanted with Peyton. "You seem to have it all figured out, Sherlock. So, when did you know?"

"I don't know," Brooke shrugged, trying to wrap her head around how easy this was. After all, Tay was Haley's sister; so she was expecting a big long, drag out argument over this. "I pretty much just thought that you and Pey looked cute all curled up together after your movie night. I guess I just started watching you more closely after that, and definitely saw sparks."

"Makes sense," Taylor nodded. It felt good to finally talk about this with someone. She was getting so sick of keeping this to herself. She had never felt the need to hide things from other people, she always told them what she was thinking, much like Brooke did, but this was different. This had the potential to cause her more harm than anyone else.

"You should tell that to my doubtful girlfriend," Brooke mumbled. Taylor smirked at the love in Brooke's voice as she spoke about her girlfriend, even in a passing matter like that. She couldn't believe it, but Brooke Davis was probably the best person to ask about this sort of thing.

"So, oh wise one," Taylor teased, her lunch completely forgotten as she leaned forward on her elbows to get closer to Brooke. "What should I do?"

…WWHT…

"You should tell her!" Haley exclaimed. She couldn't believe her ears. Did Peyton really just confess her feelings for Taylor to her? She honestly didn't think that she'd live to see that day. Yes, fine, she'll admit that she agreed with Brooke, and she did see the lingering looks and smile shared between the two, but she wouldn't get her hopes up like Brooke did. Not in a million years, did she ever think anything would ever come from it because Peyton and Taylor were two of the most stubborn people she'd ever meet.

"Are you insane?" Peyton asked, her eyes wide. "Did you actually just suggest that I tell Taylor how I feel about her?" Haley nodded, giving her a supportive smile. "I really don't see that happening."

"Why not?"

"Because….because!" was the only answer Peyton could get out at the moment. There were just so many problems with what Haley was suggesting, she couldn't decide which one she wanted to go with first. "I have never felt this way before, okay? Not to mention that it's Taylor, who is totally a girl!"

"Yes, I know, Peyton," Haley laughed. "I have known Taylor for my entire life. She does happen to be my big sister, remember."

"Right," Peyton nodded absently, pushing herself off of Haley's bed. It was now her turn to pace. Haley sighed, and turned around so she could watch her best friend pace this time. This was actually a nice distraction; it was good to focus on someone else's problem for a change.

"Why are you fighting this so hard?" Haley couldn't help but ask. She didn't know why she was asking really, because she had pretty much been in Peyton's exact shoes a couple of weeks ago, and she was fighting it with all of her heart. But things turned out better than she ever could have imagined for her, and she knew that the same thing would happen to Peyton, if she just took the first step. "If you just told Tay how you feel about her, you could both be so unbelievably happy."

"That's easy for you to say," Peyton laughed sarcastically, shaking her head at Haley's ridiculous suggestion. "You have no idea how I'm feeling right now, okay? I'm so confused, and I'm always so scared that she'll find out that I like her, and it'll ruin everything. You have Brooke; you don't have to worry about that. So, just keep your ridiculous suggestions to yourself, please."

"Are you kidding me, Peyton?" Haley asked, looking at the girl in front of her in disbelief. Did Peyton actually believe any of the crap that she had just said? "I know exactly how you feel."

"How could you possibly know?" Peyton sighed, looking at Haley with sad eyes. She loved Haley and Brooke, but she couldn't help but feel a little jealous when she watched them together. She wished more than anything that she could have a relationship like theirs with someone, and lately, that someone had turned into Taylor. "Haley, I've never seen two people so deliriously happy as you and Brooke are, even when you're not together, you both always have these silly ass grins on your faces. And it makes me want to strangle and hug you at the same time."

"You really don't know anything," Haley told her. She didn't know whether to thank her for the compliment on how good they were together, or be offended that she thinks everything was so easy for them. "You have no idea what I went through with Brooke to get to where we are today. Do you have any idea how used I felt for the first two weeks of our relationship? I can't count the number of times Taylor had to sleep in my bed with me because of something that happened with Brooke."

"Really?" Haley was right; Peyton had no idea about all of the drama that they had gone through over the last month. She had never heard anything about what happened the day after the night in the café. Now that she thought about it, she just assumed that it was love from the very beginning.

"You know how Brooke used to be, okay?" Haley hated to talk about this; she hated to even think about it. There was a reason that Peyton didn't know about all of this, and that's because neither Haley nor Brooke wanted to talk about it. "It took a lot longer than I would have liked for our relationship to change her."

"I can't believe this," Peyton whispered, completely shocked. Not only was this information hard to shallow, she was surprised that she hadn't noticed the extra tension between the two at the time, or the fact that Haley was upset at all.

"Yeah," Haley nodded. She could clearly see the genuine surprise on Peyton's face at the revelation. "After the thing at the café, me and Brooke were kinda doing the whole Friends With Benefits thing. Though, there weren't really as many benefits as there usually are in those kinds of situations, if you know what I mean. I really liked Brooke, even after just that one night, I saw a completely different side of her, and she just got to me, got under my skin in a way that no one else ever had. But she didn't feel the same. She was ashamed of what we did that night; she didn't want anyone to know that she had even spent the night alone with me, let alone came within an inch of having hot monkey sex in the middle of Karen's Café with me. I know that it was a really sad thing for me to do, and it went against everything that I had ever believed in, but I agreed to her terms of our 'relationship'. Even now, even though Brooke and I are so in love it's sicken, I have never forgotten just how used and how dirty and lonely I felt back then. I used to look at girls that let boys string them along and use them, and just think how sad and pathetic they were, and then Brooke came along and I became one of those girls. As sick as it makes me feel, I was so infatuated with her that I was willing to let her treat me like a toy, just for the five minutes of heaven I felt when her lips were on mine."

"I don't know what to say." Peyton whispered, moving backwards and sitting herself down in the chair at Haley's computer desk. She couldn't believe her ears. Haley and Brooke, the most perfect couple that she had ever seen, had started out like that? She couldn't believe it. She blinked a couple times at the floor beneath her, before letting her eyes travel up to meet Haley's, and she could see that all the pain from back then had resurfaced. "I mean, I look at the two of you, and you guys are just so in love you don't know what to do with yourselves. I guess I just assumed that you two were in love from day one."

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Haley laughed sadly. It hurt her more than anything to talk about everything that Brooke had put her through, but she knew that it was good for her. She couldn't talk about this with Brooke because Brooke just went into this incredibly scary self-hatred guilt trip, and it just killed Haley to see her like that. Haley took a deep breath to make sure that the tears didn't start to flow, and shook her head to rid her of all the depressing thoughts. She gazed at Peyton and gave her the best brave smile she could muster. "But that stuff doesn't matter now. What does matter, the only thing that matters is that we're together now. After all those nights that I seriously doubted it would ever happen, I got my happy ending, at least for now. But that happy ending didn't just happen, Pey, I had to make it happen. I took a risk, I put myself out there and in the end it paid off, it usually does."

Peyton leaned back in the chair and let Haley's words wash over her. She knew her best friend was right; after all, Haley was always right. They didn't call her Tutor Girl for nothing. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again and greeting Haley's smiling face. She thought about all of the things that Haley had just told her, about all the crap that Brooke had put her through, and how awful she had felt. But Haley still had a smile on her face because she didn't give up. Haley knew that she deserved to be happy, and instead of just sitting on her ass and complaining that she was unhappy, she took a risk and did something about it.

"Telling Brooke that I wanted something more than what we had, that was probably the single most scariest moment in my life, even worse than when I was alone with Theresa in the pool house," Haley continued, smiling softy at the blonde. She could tell that she was getting through to Peyton. Boy, Brooke was so going to owe her big for this. She could just image what Brooke was saying to Taylor right now, and she knew that they were talking about the same thing, because Brooke had been dying to get Taylor alone all week long. She doubted that Brooke was having as hard of a time convincing her sister about her feelings as she was with Peyton, though. "But you know what Peyton? I don't regret it at all. Even if things hadn't turned out as amazing as they did, I still wouldn't have regretted it."

"You really think I should tell Taylor that I like her?" Deep breath, Peyton. God, even thinking about telling the other blonde was enough to make her hyperventilate. Haley could tell how scared her friend was by her wide eyes and the way she was holding onto the chair arms for dear life.

"Yeah, I really do." Well, she is always right about everything, Peyton thought to herself, rethinking about her earlier words. Peyton took another deep breath and for some reason when she exhaled, Haley understood that she had just made her decision. "Look on the bright side, you have it easy."

"How do you figure?"

"At least you know Taylor feels the same, right?" Haley pointed out with a helpful smile, hoping it would calm the blonde's nerves. "So the only thing you really have to worry about is swallowing your pride…"

"Wait, what?" Peyton stuttered when Haley's words finally processed in her mind completely. Haley didn't just say that, did she? No, no, she couldn't have. That was just Peyton's mind working over time, trying to fool her into thinking that she actually had a chance with Taylor. "I know what?"

"That Tay has the hots for you too," Haley repeated as if it were the most obvious thing in the word. She saw the look on Peyton's face and laughed when she realized that Peyton had no idea what she was talking about. "Oh my God, please tell me that you knew Taylor's been lusting after you since you two met?" Peyton just continued to stare at her with wide, unbelieving eyes. "Unbelievable! It's so obvious. I mean, I love my sister to death, but she is about the least subtle person in the entire world. You, you were a little bit more slick about it, we weren't sure, well I wasn't sure, if you felt the same, but Brooke was ready to bet my life on it…"

"Brooke?" Oh, God, Brooke knew too? How could they all know about this while she was stressing herself out about it to the point of near mental breakdown? "She knows about this too?"

"Please, she's the one that has been trying everything to get the two of you guys together," Haley laughed. "Ever since we found you guys cuddled up on the couch downstairs, Brooke has been so adamant about getting you guys to hook up it's hilarious. I've literally had to shut her up before she just yelled at you two to make out already."

"That's great," Peyton muttered. "But back to the whole 'Taylor feels the same way' thing you said before."

"Oh, yeah," Haley smiled. "Tay's totally got the whole lusting act down to an art. It's quite cute really, when you think about all the love sick little boys she's left in her path in the past. Karma kinda sucks in that sense. But come on, Pey, even if she didn't feel the same, do you really think that Taylor would make a big deal out of it?"

"You're sure that Taylor feels the same way?" Peyton needed to be sure. It was one thing to put herself out there and have Taylor shoot her down when she was expecting it, but if she got her hopes up and the older girl said no, she didn't know what she would do. But she had to admit that Haley had a point, Taylor was probably the most relaxed person she'd ever meet when it came to sex. She really couldn't imagine her ending their newly formed friendship because she had more than friendly feelings for her. At least she hoped not.

"I'm positive," Haley assured her. "I know my big sister, and she's got it bad."

…WWHT…

"I totally do," Taylor argued, following Brooke wherever the hell she was going. She learned to stop asking, and just decided it would be better to take Brooke's lead. She also learned that there was no point in complaining because when Brooke's shopping, she doesn't hear a word you have to say.

"Oh, please, you do not love your other siblings," Brooke laughed at her. She glanced to both her sides, hoping to find the store she was looking for, but it didn't look like she was going to find what she was looking for. How could she have possibly forgotten where that bookstore was that Haley took her to? She really wanted to find that book that Haley wanted since it seemed like Haley was going to be giving her some kind of surprise tonight.

"They're my siblings," Taylor rationalized, jogging a little to catch up with the younger brunette, which was hard with all the bags she was still holding. "Of course I love them, I just don't like them at all." Brooke rolled her eyes and made a face at her as she glanced over her shoulder. "Well, except for Haley-bub, of course."

"Of course," Brooke nodded, not really paying that much attention. She took a few feet forward and she was at the end of the hall. She had no idea where it was. Letting out a huge sigh of disappointed, she slumped her shoulders and shuffled her feet over to the bench and flopped down on it. "Boo."

"What's wrong with you, you big baby?" Taylor asked in amusement as she stood in front of Brooke, her hands on her hips and looking down at her.

"I can't find the bookstore I was looking for," she informed her. Taylor let out a laugh at her words, assuming that she was joking. When Brooke glared at her, she immediately shut up. "Haley mentioned something about this book that she'd been wanting to buy for a while, and I was hoping I could pick it up for her, but I can't remember where the store is." She sighed and leaned against the back, indicating that she was going to be resting there for a while, so Taylor might as well sit her ass down, which she did. "I figured it would be down here because there's like no one here, so it just screams book store, you know?"

"Well, you know, Brookie," Taylor began in a teasing tone, talking to Brooke as if she were no older than five years old. "Believe it or not, people actually go to bookstores. Now those people may not be us, but my baby sister and your girlfriend is one of them, so I suggest that you learn at least the general vicinity of where one of them is."

"Shut up, Taylor," Brooke grumbled, slumping back into the bench. She couldn't believe how tired she was already. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this wiped out after a trip to the mall. And they weren't even half done yet. What the hell had happened to her? She used to be a shopping machine, now she can barely shop for an hour without needing a break. Dare she say that she was already bored? Oh, God, she was. This was worse than she had originally thought. "That damn Haley."

"Huh?" Taylor asked, turning back to look at her. She had been busy checking out a hot guy that was in the store in front of them. He was hot, and Taylor had to admit that if he had asked her two weeks ago, she probably wouldn't have hesitated to get in bed with him, but now, all she could think about was how ugly those pants were that he was wearing. That damn Peyton.

"I used to be the world shopping champion, okay?" Brooke began to explain, not caring that Taylor hadn't been paying attention to her before. "I used to drag Peyton all over this damn place from opening to closing, and now I can barely last three hours. That is just sad."

"And what does that have to do with Haley exactly?" Taylor questioned, watching the horrified look play on Brooke's face. That girl was just too amusing to her.

"She changed me," Brooke exclaimed. "I mean, I knew that she had changed me, she has since the night in the café, but being in a committed relationship is one thing, but this is sacred, okay? This is shopping."

"My God," Taylor gasped dramatically, knowing that Brooke was just being her usual drama queen self. Boy, Haley really had rubbed off on her in more ways than even Brooke knew. But she certainly wasn't going to tell her that. "I think Brooke Davis is evolving. I mean, if all of man kind can do it, I guess you can too. I hate to break it to you though, you're a couple million years late to board that trend train. Sorry."

"It's that damn sister of yours," Brooke informed her again, standing firm on the fact that after spending so much time with Haley, both doing different things with her that she had never done before, and talking about all the things that Haley liked, was the cause of her sudden boredom with shopping. "She's turned me into a little Tutor Girl, I swear."

"Could be a lot worse," Taylor pointed out. "You could have tainted my perfect little baby sister and turned her into a mini Tigger. And trust me when I say that the world could always use a few more Haley James', but one Brooke Davis is more than plenty, thank you very much."

"Like there could ever be another Brooke Davis," Brooke laughed in fake shock, pretending to be offended at the mere suggestion. The girls laughed at each other and fell into a comfortable silence. Brooke glanced at Taylor and she could tell that she was thinking about something, something that she really wanted to say, Brooke guessed. "I'm sensing you have something to say." Taylor snapped into attention, looking at her like she had been caught, which she guessed she had. Brooke smirked at her. "Out with it."

"It's stupid," Taylor confessed, giving Brooke a guilty look. "And I feel stupid even thinking it." Brooke raised an eyebrow, and waved her hands, signaling for her to tell her anyway. "But I can't not think about it."

"Just tell me, or ask me, or whatever."

"You have changed, right?" Taylor finally spit out. She felt bad even thinking that Brooke was capable of hurting her sister, but that was overridden by the worry she had over her sister. She was Haley's big sister, and it was her job to protect her, since their parents obviously didn't give a damn, and there was nothing she took more seriously that Haley's well being. "And I don't mean just that you get bored with shopping now, or anything like that. I mean, you're not the person you used to be, right? When Haley finally gives it up, you're not going to get bored with her, and just drop her, are you? Cause I gotten tell you, my Haley-bub is a strong girl, but she couldn't take that, and I couldn't take seeing that happen to her."

"I would never…" Brooke trailed off, trying to comprehend what Taylor was asking her. She couldn't even image ever doing that to someone again, she didn't know how she ever did, but there was certainly no possible way that she could ever do that to Haley, to her Haley. "How could you even ask me that, Tay?"

"I didn't want to," she defended, cursing herself. She knew she should have never brought this up. She didn't blame Brooke for being offended. Not once since she had met her, had Brooke ever given her any reason to doubt her commitment to their relationship. "But, you know, I kinda have to."

"Why, why would you have to ask me something ridiculous like that?"

"Forgive me for looking out for my little sister," Taylor snapped, letting out a huff of air. "You don't get it, okay, you're not a big sister, you couldn't get it. Haley never said anything to me, but I'm not as dense as she likes to think I am. I know how badly you used to treat her; I know that you're the reason I used to have to hold her every night because she would cry herself to sleep."

Brooke looked at Taylor in shock. She hated to think about what she used to be, how she used to treat Haley. She couldn't believe that she had been so rude to Haley, so disrespectful to probably the most respectable person in the world. She knew that she had hurt Haley back then, her girlfriend had told her that before, the one and only time that they ever talked about it, but she had no idea that she had hurt her that badly. She made her cry herself to sleep every night? Just the thought of that was enough to rip Brooke's still beating heart out of her chest.

"Do you have any idea how much I wanted to hunt you down and beat some sense into you?" Taylor asked. She could still remember all those times that she had had to stop herself from asking Haley who was responsible for making her feel so bad. She knew that someone was doing it to her, but she had no idea who, until she saw that picture hanging on Haley's mirror after everything had resolved itself. "When Hay was twelve and she had her first boyfriend, I don't even remember what his name was, but one day out of the blue, he just decided that Haley wasn't cool enough or pretty enough, and he dumped her. Yeah, they were just kids, they hadn't even kissed, but that really hurt Haley. I came home from school to find her crying in my room. My parents were home, our two sisters and brother where there, and I could hear her crying the moment I walked in the door, but none of them seemed to care enough to go up and see what she was so upset about. So I walked in and saw her curled up on my bed in tears. I just asked what his name was and where he lived and left. I came back with the little prick by the collar of his shirt and made him tell her that he was sorry for whatever the hell it was that he said to her."

"You're a good big sister, Tay," Brooke told her, smiling sadly at the story. She really wanted to know who the guy was now, because she really wanted to meet the person stupid enough to break up with someone as amazing as Haley. Not cool and pretty enough? What an idiot. "Haley's lucky to have you looking out for her."

"I don't want that to happen again," Taylor continued, as if she didn't hear what Brooke had said, even though she did. She was glad that someone thought so; Haley was pretty much the only thing she was proud of in her life. "I would do anything to keep that from happening again, even if it means offending you. Haley-bub has been the only person I could ever count on my whole life. She means everything to me and I take a lot of pride in being the big sister she deserves because she's always been the perfect little sister to me."

"I get that," Brooke assured her. She turned her body around and pulled her knee up underneath her so she was fully facing Taylor. She had never seen the blonde so open about her feelings before. She always knew that Haley and Taylor were close, but she had no idea that they were all each other had growing up. Now she felt really bad that she had been so offended about Taylor's worries. She was just looking out for Haley and that was something that Brooke really did appreciate. "But you have nothing to worry about, I promise. I was stupid then, and I have never been more ashamed than I was. Even then, when I was doing that shit to her, for the first time, I saw what a horrible person I was. I would see her face when I walked away, I could see what I was doing to her, and it killed me, but I was too much of a coward to admit to myself that I wanted to be with her." She glanced down, blinking rapidly to hold back the tear that were threatening to fall at the thought of how broken and ashamed she used to make Haley feel. "It was fun at first, for both of us, but then it started to become less fun when feelings started being toyed with, but neither of us could stop. We were too far into each other, and it got really bad there for a little bit. She finally called me on my shit, she told me that she either wanted all of me or none, and when she threatened to end it, something inside me just broke." She looked up and saw the interested look on Taylor's face. Brooke shook her head, running a shaking hand through her hair. "Look, I'm not that person anymore, okay? Haley changed me, there was just something about her that made me want to be a better person, someone that deserved to be with her, someone that deserved to be loved by her."

"I know," Taylor confessed with a sweet smile. She could see how genuinely bad Brooke felt about everything just by the look on her face and the way her body was reacting to the unpleasant memories. "I know, that you would never, ever hurt Haley again, but it's just my job, you know? It's in the big sister rule book and everything."

"It's totally cool," Brooke promised her, not wanting her to feel bad about something that needed to be discussed. Brooke had to admit, that was one of her worst fears, that she would somehow hurt Haley, somewhere down the line, and she never wanted to do that, not ever. She flashed Taylor her dimples and held her hands up in surrender. "I understand completely."

"Thanks." For some reason, she felt that she still needed to explain herself. "I like you Brooke, I do, but it's just … before and after everything, forget Peyton, forget all the crap I pull, all the jokes I make, all the screws up I've made; I love Haley more than anything in the whole world. I look at the life that I've made for myself, and Haley is the one good thing in it, the one thing that I'm proud of, and I will do anything to make her happy." She laughed bitterly at herself, not believing that she was crying. She couldn't remember the last time that she had cried. She had cried the whole way to the hospital when Peyton said Haley was hurt, but other than that, she couldn't recall the last time. She wiped roughly at her eyes, and sniffled. "And as much as it kills me to admit this to myself, that's your job now."

"What?"

"My little Haley-bub is all grown up," Taylor explained with a watery, but proud smile. "My job was to protect her from all those jackasses out there, make sure that she was safe and happy, stand up for her when bitchy cheerleaders made fun of her because she didn't go partying on Friday night and she had straight A's." Brooke smiled at the words, knowing they were directed at her. "But that's your job now. Haley has grown up right before my eyes into the most amazing person I have ever meet, and I am so unbelievably proud to say that I had some hand in raising her, because I think Haley is the only thing that I have ever done right in my entire life. She's amazing, and she deserves someone amazing, and I'm glad that she's already found that person."

"Thank you, Taylor." Brooke knew that she was wrong, she didn't really deserve Haley, but she was hoping with a little bit more time, she would be the person who did.

"And so, it's your turn to look after her," the older girl continued to explain her earlier comment. "As much as I wish it weren't true, Haley can't be my baby sister forever. I can't continue to protect her the way I wish I always could. She's found someone that will treat her right, someone else that can protect her." She winked at Brooke and wiped at her eyes again. "And I trust you to do the things that I used to do. When she's sad, I know that you'll hold her and listen to her and let her know that you'll always be there for her. I know that when you guys get into a fight over something completely pointless, you won't attack her and make her feel useless like my parents do. And I know that you'll always love her, just like I will." Taylor took a deep breath and laughed at herself for saying all of this. She had originally just planned on giving Brooke the usual big sister talk, but it had turned into so much more, all her fears had pushed their way to the surface. "So, I officially step down my post of overprotective older sister, and pass the torch to you, as you step up to take the throne of overprotective girlfriend."

"I've actually already got that role covered," Brooke replied, rolling her eyes. Haley was always telling her that she worried too much. "Listen Taylor, I know how much you love Haley, hell, you probably love her just as much as I do…"

"But in a very different way," Taylor made sure to make clear. Brooke glared playfully at her and continued.

"And I know that it must be hard to trust me with the most important thing in your life, especially given my history, but you can," she promised her. She was surprised that she was trying so hard to get Taylor's approval and trust. It was probably because she knew how important Taylor was to Haley, and she knew how important Taylor's approval was to Haley. And if it was important to Haley, it was even more important to Brooke. "You can trust me with Haley. I would never, ever to anything that would cause her any pain. I'm like you, Haley means everything to me, and I've never loved anything as much as I love Haley. She's it for me, okay? I'm always going to be there for her."

"I know you will," Taylor smirked at her, biting her bottom lip at the same time. "And if you do end up hurting her in any way, shape or form, I will not hesitate to rip you to shreds. Nobody hurts my Haley-bub." Brooke had never seen Taylor more serious about something in her entire life.

"Oh, I believe you." They both laughed at the genuine fear in Brooke's voice before falling into a comfortable silence. "And just so you know, everything you just said, same goes for Peyton. You hurt her and you're in big trouble."

"Gotcha," Taylor laughed again. "But what makes you so certain that I would be the one to hurt her?" It was obvious that there was no way that Haley would ever hurt anyone, let alone Brooke, but both Taylor and Peyton were pretty new to this.

"Please," Brooke scoffed. "Peyton would never hurt you."

…WWHT…

"Oh, I'm so gonna hurt her!" Peyton growled from her lounging position on Haley's bed. Her best friend had left the room a few minutes ago in search of candles, and the silence was already killing the ever-talkative Peyton.

"No you won't," Haley called back, just a couple doors down at the linen closet. She stood up on her tiptoes to see if there was anything on the top shelf, and cursed when there was nothing there. Sighing, she closed the door and moved to look in Taylor's bedroom. She was always lighting incense, she was sure to have some kind of candles, right?

"Oh yes, I will." The blonde could hear Haley moving around the floor in search of her precious candles, but made absolutely no move to help her look for some.

"And why would you want to hurt Taylor?" Haley asked, pulling her desk drawer open. "You looooveeeee her."

"I do not 'looooveeeee' her," the cheerleader protested half-heartedly. She didn't love Taylor, she's only known the girl for a week, but she had a strong feeling that if they played their cards right and took things slow, some she could. "I just happen to think that she's nice, funny, sweet, smart, incredibly sexy…"

"Taylor and Peyton, sitting in a tree," Haley teased in a singsong voice, but trailed off, choosing just to hum the last part of the childish song to herself. Damn it, there was nothing. She slammed the drawer shut and glanced around the room. Just like every other room in this damn house, there were absolutely no candles.

"Ha," Peyton laughed at the old song. "Shows how much you know. I'm scared of climbing trees ever since I fell out of the one on Brooke's lawn and broke my arm, so I wouldn't even be sitting in one."

"And people say I over think things," Haley mumbled as she reentered her room, empty-handed. Hearing Haley enter the room again, Peyton sat up on the bed to greet her and was surprised not to see any candles. Haley saw the look and growled. "There is not one single candle in this whole freaking house!"

"Not even in Tay's room?" Haley shook her head. "What do you need candles for anyway? Do they, like, calm you down or something? Cause you could really use some right about now, actually."

"It's for tonight," Haley stated, glaring at the blonde that was teasing her. She knew calling Peyton was a bad idea. The last thing she needed right now was Peyton's teasing. She was already on edge enough as it was; Peyton was not helping, as usual. But that was what made Peyton so damn loveable, she guessed. "You know, cause I heard somewhere that you're first time with the woman you love is supposed to be special or something, so I figured that I'd try to make it romantic."

"With candles?" Peyton asked and made a face, ignoring the sarcasm that had been practically dripping for Haley's voice. Haley gave her a blank look, not sure what exactly the problem was with candles. If you asked her, candles were a gesture that would never get old. "That is so old. Nobody lights candles anymore, that's how house fires get started."

"Alright, Mrs. I'm Dating A Guy I'm Not In Love With While Not So Secretly Lusting After My Best Friend's Older Sister, what's your idea of romance?"

"First of all, I prefer Miss," Peyton began. She stuck her tongue out and dodged the flying pillow that was hurled her way at the comment. Haley let out a frustrated sigh at Peyton's inability to take anything seriously and threw herself down on the bed beside the other girl. "Okay, okay, just give me a second to think."

"Don't hurt yourself." It was Haley's turn to dodge a pillow as she laughed.

"Okay, idea," Peyton announced, holding her finger up in the air. Haley tore her gaze from the very interesting ceiling and turned her head to the side to look at her best friend expectantly. "What's the most romantic event in your relationship with Brooke so far?" Haley didn't even have to think about it.

"The night Brooke told me she loved me," she answered without giving it a second thought. Haley couldn't help the grin that came to her face as she thought about that night. She had never felt more alive than she had when Brooke showed up at her house.

"O-kay," Peyton drew out, assuming that Haley was lost in the memory. She shifted slightly to her left so she was a little further away from the smaller girl incase she decided that she wanted a replay of that night. She waited for a moment until Haley stopped reliving it. "I'm assuming that it was special for a reason."

"Yeah," Haley smiled, her eyes glazing over again.

"Hales, you really need to stay with me here," Peyton told her, nudging her out of her thoughts. Haley jumped and shook her head, smiling shyly at the blonde, knowing she'd been caught.

"Sorry," she giggled like a schoolgirl. She always got all giddy just thinking about that night. "What did you ask again?"

"What am I gonna do with you?" Peyton asked, shaking her head. Haley smiled innocently at her and shrugged her shoulders in a helpless manner. "I asked what was so special about that night?"

"You mean besides when she said everything that I'd been waiting to here since the night in the café?" Peyton rolled her eyes and nodded. "She played our song."

"You guys have a song?" She and Jake had been going out since forever, and they didn't even have a song.

"Do you remember that stupid mix CD you made me a month ago with all those old cheesy pop songs?" Peyton nodded. "Well, I was listening to that, well, singing to it, when she walked into the café that night, she scared the shit out of me."

"Wow, how romantic," Peyton said sarcastically. Haley didn't hesitate to smack her in the shoulder for her comment. "Go on."

"Anyway," Haley restarted, glaring at Peyton out of the corner of her eye. "The CD was playing the entire time we were trapped in there, so it was on repeat. The same song I was singing to before was playing when we started making out…"

"I get it," Peyton cut her off. "So, basically, Brooke went the other cheesy route of playing your song. Isn't that precious. You two were like made for each other."

"Shut up," Haley chastised her, kicking her roughly in the shin. Peyton yelped and immediately pulled her leg up and rubbed it where it hurt. "It wasn't cheesy. It was incredibly sweet and romantic. It meant a lot that she remembered the song and everything, cause we never really said anything about it after that."

"So it wasn't really officially your song at the time?" Peyton clarified. Haley thought about that for a moment before nodding, deciding that was the best description for it. "I guess that's kinda sweet, for Brooke, anyway."

"So what do you think?" Haley asked. For some reason, she really wanted to know what Peyton thought about this whole thing. Even though she was pretty sure she already knew what she wanted to do to make this special and sweet, she was still Haley, and she still needed reinforcement on every decision she made. "Should I do something like that?"

"Sounds like it's perfect for the two of you," Peyton answered with a firm nod of her head, pleased to see that her answer seemed to make Haley happy.

"Thanks, Pey."

"I'd still go with popping out of a cake wearing nothing but your earrings," she finished her thought with a serious look on her face. "But whatever floats your boat, I guess."

…WWHT…

"I guess this is farewell," Taylor pointed out with fake sadness as she pulled up to the corner of her house. They were parked at an angle that prevented her from seeing Peyton's old car still parked in the driveway. It had been later than she expected, almost 10 o'clock when Haley had finally called her to tell her that she was ready for her to bring Brooke home.

"Um, don't you live here?" Brooke asked as she undid her seatbelt and turned to look at Taylor like she was slowly starting to go insane, which Brooke was seriously starting to suspect.

"I have somewhere to go quickly," Taylor fibbed. She was never good at thinking up lies on the spot like that. She guessed that came with all the years of growing up in a house where it didn't matter what the hell you did. Most teenagers got their lying practice with their parents, not anyone in the James family though, that would imply that their parents cared.

"Well, I could go with you then," Brooke suggested, stopping her movements of opening the door. "There's no point in making two trips."

"Brooke, just…" Taylor searched her mind for a reply to Brooke's suggestion. She didn't like it, cheerleaders were not supposed to be sensible. Damn, Haley, she cursed. "Just get of my car. I've spent all day with you, I need two seconds to myself alright?"

"Haley's got a surprise in there for me, huh?" Brooke smirked, enjoying playing with Taylor's head. The James sisters were a lot of things, but subtle wasn't one of them. She knew as soon as Taylor dragged her out of Haley's bed that morning for 'a day of shopping, just the three of them' that she was up to something. Not to mention the mystery call Peyton got from Haley. Taylor looked at her like a dear caught in headlights. Brooke laughed. "It was so obvious that you were trying to keep me busy so she could do whatever it is that she's doing."

"Aren't you a little self absorbed?" Taylor tried, going right into defensive mode. Haley was so going to kill her. She knew this lame plan was never going to work. This type of thing never worked for surprise parties, why would it have worked for this? "Why would you be so special for Haley to go to all this trouble for a surprise for you? Huh, what have you done that's so special?"

"You are so bad at this," Brooke observed with a smile. She shook her head in sheer disappointment and started opening the door. Taylor watched her in shock, still cursing herself for doing such a bad job.

"There's no surprise!" she called out as the door shut. Luckily, Brooke had left her window wide open. Brooke bent down and stuck her head through it, a victorious smile plastered on her face. Her eyes widened comically as she stuck her tongue out at the older blonde, making a funny face. "There isn't!"

"Whatever," Brooke giggled, blowing her a kiss before pulling away and stepping up onto the curb to watch Taylor drive off. Instead of driving off though, Taylor leaned over in her seat so she could look out the passenger window.

"You left all your crap in here," she reminder her. She had given up trying to cover up for her little sister. They were caught, and there was nothing she could do about it. As unbelievable as it sounded, Brooke was just too clever for them. Taylor had to hold in her laughter at the thought.

"I'll get it after," Brooke laughed. "I mean, you will be back in a couple of minutes, right?" She flashed Taylor her million dollar smile, the one that both got her in and out of trouble all her life. Taylor growled at her. "That's what you said."

"I hate you," Taylor hissed, though both knew that she wasn't serious. She wasn't going to win this. Rolling her eyes, and leaning into the back slightly, she eyed all the bags for a moment before finding the one she wanted and tossing it out the window at Brooke. Not expecting the sudden flying projectile coming at her, it smacked her right in her smirking face before it dropped into her arms. "Take that. Have fun." Without another word, Taylor pressed the gas and pealed away from the curb and drove off into the night.

"Bitch," Brooke laughed under her breath as she watched her girlfriend's sister speed off. She shook her head, realizing that one day she could be related to that weirdo. Now that was a scary thought. Shaking her head, she peeked into the bag and furrowed her brow at what she was in there. What the hell? Before she had a chance to think about it anymore, however, she heard a noise behind her.

"Brookie?" came the familiar voice from behind her. She quickly closed the bag and spun around to see her best friend standing on her girlfriend's porch. "We were wondering when you gonna get here."

"What are you still doing here?" Brooke asked, walking up the lawn towards her waiting friend on the porch. Peyton closed the door quickly before walking down the steps and meeting Brooke on the walkway.

"I was just waiting for you to get here," Peyton answered, a little better at lying than Taylor was. "Haley was really bored before, so she asked me to stay until you and Taylor were done."

"That was her SOS?" Brooke asked, raising her eyebrow. She could usually read Peyton pretty well; well enough to know when she was lying anyway, and she was pretty sure that now was one of those times. A normal person would have suspected some kind of affair was going on, with all the sneaking around, but she knew Haley and she knew Peyton and Taylor, so she was positive that it wasn't anything of the sort.

"You know Haley," Peyton shrugged, hoping Brooke would just leave her alone and let her be on her way. Haley had been freaked out about this, she had worked herself into a complete frenzy trying to make everything perfect, and there was no way that she was going to make all of that worth nothing by completely blowing Haley's secret to Brooke. "She's a complete drama queen."

"Just like her sister," Brooke laughed. Okay, she was through messing around with the blonde, she just wanted to get inside now and see her girlfriend. This mystery surprise was killing her. What could Haley possible have that would surprise her?

"Well," Peyton began, becoming uneasy at the mention of Taylor. She was already freaked out enough that she had actually told Haley about her feelings, not to mention finding out about Taylor's supposed feelings towards her, she didn't need Brooke finding out right now either. And she certainly didn't want to steal Haley's thunder, since apparently Brooke would be very excited to hear of the confession, which Peyton was glad she wouldn't be there for. "I'm gonna head home now. Have a good time."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Brooke wondered out load. Peyton eyed her for a moment longer before turning to leave, smacking Brooke on the ass on her way by. Brooke moved up to the porch and stood there, bag in hand and waited until Peyton pulled out of the driveway before turning towards the door. She looked at it in thought for a moment, trying to decide if she should knock or not. Normally, she just walked right in, but she didn't want to ruin Haley's surprise or anything. Deciding to air on the side of caution, Brooke raised her hand and knocked twice.

She stood there for a moment, waiting for any sound inside, but she didn't hear anything. Raising her hand again, she rang the doorbell this time. Again there was nothing from inside the house. She let out a sigh and decided she would just have to go in and hope that's what Haley wanted. She knew her girlfriend was home, Peyton had just left the house after all, and she knew that Haley would be able to hear the doorbell from everywhere in her house, so she assumed the lack of an answer was Haley's way of getting her inside.

"Hales?" she called out, stepping into the house and closing the door. Knowing that Taylor had been lying through her teeth and wasn't going to be coming back tonight, Brooke immediately turned the deadbolt on the door, locking it. "Baby, where are you?"

"In my room," was the faint answer she received. Brooke couldn't help but notice that she sounded nervous as hell, her voice wavering with just those three short words.

"Is it alright if I come up?" Brooke asked, walking towards the stairs, but not coming up them yet. She still wasn't sure if she was ready for her yet. Brooke was quickly going through all the different scenarios in her head, trying to figure out what the hell Haley was up to, but she couldn't think of anything. She couldn't smell anything, so it wasn't a belated anniversary dinner, and it wasn't her birthday.

"Yeah," she heard. Brooke glanced around her quickly to make sure that there weren't any hidden cameras around her before she stepped up and started walking up the stairs slowly. It wasn't long before she was at Haley's door, staring at the wooden frame, trying to calm her nerves. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that she was really going to like what was waiting for her on the other side of that door.

Taking a deep breath and holding it in slightly, she closed her eyes and grabbed for the doorknob, slowly turning it and pushing it open. She could almost feel the air change around her, feel it get heavier as she entered the room. She stepped inside, moving to the side just enough to close the door, and leaned all her weight on it. After a moment or two, she let out her breath and opened her eyes.

She didn't know what she expected to find, but what she saw definitely surprised her. Haley was sitting in the middle of her room, dressed up and hair done perfectly, both she knew were credit to Peyton, looking like the most beautiful thing in the entire world. That didn't surprise her though; it was the keyboard that sat in front of Haley that did.

She couldn't remember all the times she had begged Haley to sing for her again. Ever since their first night in the café, when she had walked in on her singing that song, Haley's voice had haunted her, made her crave more of it. She had begged and pleaded with Haley to sing for her, any song would have made her happy, but Haley refused. She said singing was something that she only ever did by herself; she could never trust someone enough to hear her voice.

Brooke was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Haley close her eyes, and move her hands to touch the keys in front of her. It was the sound of that oh so sweet, angelic voice that had haunted her since she first heard it, that broke her from her thoughts and brought her back to the reality of the situation.

The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful
Stop me and steal my breath
Emeralds from mountains thrust toward the sky
Never revealing their depth
Tell me that we belong together
Dress it up with the trappings of love
I'll be captivated
I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above

Brooke's heart stopped and her knees went weak as she realized what song Haley was singing. Yeah, she knew the song was probably the most overplayed love song in the history of pop music, but that didn't matter to her. It was the song that they shared their first kiss to, it was song that made her realize that she wanted to be with Haley for the rest of her life, it was the song that was playing when she told Haley she loved her.

It was their song.

…WWHT…

Peyton bounced her head along to the music that was currently blaring from her CD player. It wasn't the normal music she would listen to, and she wasn't embarrassed in the slightest to be blaring the Spice Girls from her old car. People knew that she had amazing taste in music, so if they heard her listening to it, they knew it was cool, so it didn't matter. Not that she cared what other people thought about her anyway.

Ever since Haley had mentioned the CD of old pop songs she made last month, Peyton had been humming all of the songs she remembered putting on the CD. She had begged Haley to tell her what song she was going to sing to Brooke, she was dying to know what their song was so she could tease Brooke about it later, but Haley wasn't going to tell her anything.

Even when she asked to hear more about what went on earlier in their relationship; Haley was hesitant to tell her. It took her a couple of hours to finally convince Haley to go through everything that happened, after pointing out that they had hours to go before it was late enough to call Taylor to bring Brooke home.

To say that she was shocked at what she heard would be one of the biggest understatements of the century, but she was really interesting in hearing how everything begin and how they became official and when. She really wanted to know how they got to have the most perfect relationship she had ever seen, in hopes that she and Taylor might someday be able to use their pointers.

While she was listening to Haley go over everything that she had gone through, all the pain that Brooke had put her through, she started to rethink her decision to tell Taylor how she felt. Haley didn't know for sure if Taylor felt the same way, and Peyton wasn't willing to take that risk. A lot of people would be surprised to know this, but Haley was a whole hell of a lot stronger than Peyton was. The fact that she had been in a safe relationship with a guy that she didn't love for as long as she had, proved that fact.

Yeah, she really liked Taylor, and she wished more than anything that she could have a relationship like Brooke and Haley have, but was she willing to go through all the pain that Haley went through? No, she wasn't because she didn't think she could stand it. If she could, she would take the risk, but that wasn't going to happen.

If she knew for sure that Taylor really liked her too, and not just that she thought she was hot, but really liked her too, then she would be willing to give them a shoot. But for some reason, she just couldn't picture Taylor pouring her heart out to her like that. Yes, Haley and Taylor were alike in many different ways, but expressing their feelings wasn't really one of them.

When it came to relationships, Taylor was more like Brooke, or the way Brooke used to be. Taylor didn't have relationships, she sex buddies, and one night stands, she had Friends With Benefits. Peyton wasn't looking for something like that. Haley might have been so into Brooke that she was willing to let Brooke treat her that way, but she wasn't willing to let Taylor do that to her.

If her choices were being content with Jake for the rest of her life or feeling useless with Taylor, she would take the former any day. She liked Taylor, she really did, but she wasn't willing to do that to herself. Maybe she wasn't as brave as Haley to take the risk and believe that Taylor's interest went further than her looks, but that just meant that she had more self-respect than Haley did.

She sighed as she rounded the corner to her street with a sharp turn and pulled into her dark driveway. She turned off the car and sat in her seat for a moment, staring up at her pitch black house. She hated sleeping there alone every night, but she hated coming home to an empty house even more. She missed her mom more than anything, but she really just wished that her dad would get his act together and come home.

She was so damn sick of being alone.

Shaking her head, Peyton undid her seatbelt and pushed open the door of her baby, and step out, carefully shutting it behind her. Checking to make sure that all the doors were locked, she walked around it and started making her way to her front door. She was only two steps into her journey up the walkway when she spotted a figure sitting on her porch.

"Hey, Pey Pey," came the sweet voice from the shadows. She had always hated it when Haley called her that, but for some reason, she couldn't keep the smile off her face when she called her that. "I was hoping you'd be home soon."

"Taylor?" Peyton breathed out, not being able to keep her excitement at seeing her inside. Sure, she wasn't planning on spilling her heart out to Taylor, but that didn't mean she still didn't have the hots for her. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," she answered, pushing herself off of the steps and bringing herself into Peyton's view. All the stuff that Peyton had been thinking about in the car almost completely left her mind the moment she caught sight if Taylor's beautiful face in the light. "Everything okay at my house?"

"I think so," Peyton nodded, moving forward. She shoved her hands into her coat pockets, not knowing what else to do with them. She always had to play with them and fiddle with them when she was nervous. "Brooke was really confused when I left, but I don't think it'll take her long to figure out what Haley has planned."

"She's a smart girl, that Brooke is," Taylor agreed, finally reaching the younger girl and standing awkwardly in front of her. She had been so sure about coming here and doing this, but now that Peyton was right in front of her, she had no idea what she was thinking.

"A lot of people don't know that about her," Peyton agreed, happy to be talking about something instead of just standing around like idiots. "But she's really smart, she gets people, she can read them really well."

"Yeah, about that." Taylor decided that she couldn't just stand there any more. She couldn't take being this close to Peyton, alone without saying something. Brooke had told her that Peyton felt the same, and although she still had her doubts about that, she had always been a risk taker, and she was willing to follow through with this. "Brooke said something really interesting to me today."

"Oh, really?" Peyton asked, not knowing where this was going. She worked up all her courage and raised her head to look up and into Taylor's eyes. The emotions that she saw there for the first time was enough to make her melt. She swallowed hard, struggling to get past the lump that had formed there. "What did she say?"

"She was telling me all about…" Taylor began to retell, going over her speech that she had planned out. She closed her eyes for a moment and then reopened them, and refocused her gaze to Peyton. "You know what? Forget that. I had this whole thing planned out to tell you, about everything that Brooke told me, about how it made me feel, but I can't be bothered. I was never good at that shit, Haley was always so much better with words than me."

"What are you trying to say, Taylor?"

"I want you," she simply stated. She let out a little laugh at her bluntness, but didn't back down. She had never done anything like this before; she had never been so forward about her feeling about anyone. "I want you so much it hurts sometimes. I've never felt this way about anyone before, and it scares me a little bit, but I don't care. I want you. Whenever I'm away from you, I can't stop thinking about you. Whenever I hear your name, I feel my heart speed up, and whenever I'm around you, it gets hard to think and my palms get sweaty. I feel like I'm some God damned teenage boy around Britney Spears or something."

"Taylor…"

"I don't just want you, Pey," Taylor cut her off, reading her mind. "I want to be with you. I look at Haley and Brooke, and I see how happy they make each other, how amazingly adorable they are together, and I want that. And when I think about myself in that kind of relationship, I can't picture it with anyone else but you. I don't know whether it's the curly hair, the goofy attitude, or the way your entire face lights up when you laugh, but there's just something about you that gets to me, it draws me in and makes me fall for you even more."

"I know I don't have a very good track record with dating," Taylor continued, laughing at her own words. That was putting it nicely. "Hell, I think the last time I actually had a boyfriend was when I was fourteen and Tommy Duncan asked me to go steady. I don't date, Peyton, I can stay interested in someone for longer than a night to date them. But it's different with you; you're constantly surprising me, making me think about things that I never would have thought about, and you make me laugh. God, Pey, I've never had more fun around anyone as I do when I'm with you."

"I want you to give this a chance," she asked her. She took a step forward, getting into Peyton's personal space, but Peyton didn't mind a bit. "I want you to give us a chance. I know you've got that dumbass boyfriend of yours, but he's not right for you, Peyton, I know he's not. We've been hanging out for over a week now, and I haven't heard him call you once. If I were with you, I couldn't stand to be away from you for that long. He doesn't see how amazing you are, he couldn't, not if he could just take off for a week without even telling you. You deserve to be with someone who knows just how amazing you are, and that's me."

Peyton's eyes searched Taylor's face, looking for any sign that she was lying about anything that she had just told her. Peyton was good at reading people, just like Brooke was, and she could tell that Taylor was serious about this. She had never seen someone look as serious about anything as Taylor was about this. And Peyton didn't know what to do.

She had decided just minutes ago that she was just going to be friends with Taylor. She was going to push her feelings to the back of her head, and just try to be friends with Taylor because she didn't think that her heart could take anything else. She thought she knew what Taylor was all about, but just when she was sure of herself and she had accepted what their relationship was destined be, Taylor had to pull all of this out from nowhere, and completely mess with her head.

Taylor had just said everything that she had ever wanted to hear from her. She just destroyed everything that Peyton had had doubts about. She was worried that Taylor just wanted her for sex, and that wasn't true. Taylor really liked her; she liked things about her that Jake had never complimented her about, probably never even noticed. God, she even wanted what Brooke and Haley had, just like she did.

"Peyton," Taylor whispered, stepping even closer to her, so they were only millimeters apart. Peyton felt the shiver run down her spine as Taylor's voice tickled her face. "I know this sounds crazy, like it will never work, but if Brooke and Haley have taught us anything, it's that you can make anything work if you want it bad enough, if you love each other enough." Taylor tentatively reached up and gently brushed away a single curl that had fallen in Peyton's face, letting her hand linger on her cheek. "What do you say, Beautiful? You willing to give us a shot?"

Peyton bit her lower lip in an attempt to keep in the tears that threatened to escape at the sheer emotion of what was happening. Peyton Sawyer had dealt with a lot of pain in her life, and she had shed her fair share of tears, but never before had she cried because she was just too damn happy to control it. She honestly didn't think it was possible to cry happy tears.

All the fears that she had about what would happen to her if she let Taylor in left her mind when she gazed into Taylor's eyes and saw all the feelings they held there. Peyton looked into Taylor's eyes, and she wasn't afraid anymore.

"Hell yes," she answered with a laugh that came out more like a sob. She gazed at Taylor through watery eyes as the other girl idly wiped away her tears. Taylor's face broke into the biggest grin Peyton had ever seen in her entire life.

"Yeah?" Taylor asked, her voice breaking as she went so high, overpowered with unbelievable hope. Peyton laughed at her, leaning forward and pressing their foreheads together.

"Yeah." Not having anything else to say, Taylor closed the little distance that was left between them, and brought their lips together in a slow, gentle, caring kiss that blew both of their expectations out of the water. The kiss was subtle, passionate but not demanding or overpowering, and softer than either girl had ever thought possible.

After a few moments, Peyton pulled away, not being able to take the delicious torture anymore. Once they separated, the cheerleader couldn't help but bring her hand up to her lips to make sure that she hadn't just imagined that happen. She smiled softly at Taylor when she felt how swollen her lips were already. Taylor smiled back at her adoringly, finding the expression on her face to be the most endearing thing she'd ever seen.

"I can't wait to do that for the rest of my life." Peyton laughed at her out of pure happiness and shook her head. To stop the fresh flood of tears that she felt coming, she reached forward and grabbed a handful of Taylor's shirt, pulling the older girl against her for another heavenly kiss.

…WWHT…

"I could listen to you for the rest of my life," was the only thing that Brooke could manage to say when Haley finally finished singing her song. After taking a moment to recover, Brooke let her eyes flutter open and rest on Haley's nervous face, the sweetest smile imaginable appearing on her face.

"You liked it?" Haley asked, her voice amazingly insecure and unsure. She didn't know why she was so damn nervous, she knew that even if she did suck, there was no way that Brooke was going to laugh in her face. She had to admit, there was a time that she thought that was a possibility, which was why she always refused to sing for Brooke. Singing was something that she always loved to do, but never in front of someone else. No one, not even Taylor, had ever heard her sing. It was something that she only did for herself. She wasn't sure why she didn't like others to hear her, and she knew it was more than just stage fright.

"Are you insane?" Brooke questioned, completely shocked that Haley didn't know what an incredibly amazing voice she had. Dropping her bag onto the floor by the door, careful that it didn't fall open and freak Haley out, she pushed herself off the wooden door and slowly sauntered over to Haley. She waited until she was standing right beside her, and knelt down so they were eye level. "Baby, I loved it."

"Really?" Brooke laughed at how adorable Haley looked when she was nervous like this. She shook her head, and stood up, taking Haley's hand and pulling her up with her. Brooke turned them around and dropped herself in the chair that Haley had just been sitting in and sat Haley down on her lap. She pulled Haley to her tighter, wrapping her arms around Haley's waist and kissing her softly on her exposed collarbone.

"I have never heard a more beautiful sound in my entire life," Brooke told her, the honesty in her voice traveling to Haley's ears. "You have the most incredible voice, it sent chills up my spine. You know that I've been wanting to hear you sing since the last time, and I've got to tell you, baby, it was worth the wait. That was more beautiful than I could have ever dreamed of."

"Thank you, Tigger," Haley whispered, turned her head around slightly so she could place a small, soft kiss on Brooke's lips. Brooke gave her an affirmative nod, and a goofy look, telling her it was her pleasure. Haley giggled and leaned further into her girlfriend, resting her head against Brooke's. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"No," Brooke corrected her, shaking her arms to jostled Haley a bit. "You have no idea how much it means to me that you sang for me. I know how private you are when it comes to your voice, that for some unknown reason you don't think that people should hear it, and it means so much to me that you were willing to share that with me."

"I love you," Haley reasoned with her, pulling her head away and turned her body around completely to one side so she could look into Brooke's beautiful brown eyes. All the love and trust and adoration she found in Brooke's eyes still surprised her. She still found it unbelievable that the gorgeous girl underneath her was all her's. "I trust you, and I wanted to share this with you. I want to share everything with you."

"You do," Brooke assured her, looking at her strangely, trying to figure out what Haley was trying to get at. Was she hiding something from her? Is that what all of this was about? She looked at her girlfriend, searching her eyes for any sign of betrayal and just like she had expected, she found nothing but love, happiness, nervousness and self-doubt, just like she usually did. "I've never been with anyone the way I've been with you. We do share everything, everything you feel, all the pain, all the hurt, all the sadness, all the happiness, I feel it too. When you're smiling, I'm smiling, and when you're crying, I'm crying too."

"Brooke," Haley hushed her, placing a soft finger on the brunette's lips before replacing them with her own. She shook her head in amusement and couldn't help but laugh adoringly at Brooke's sweet words. "That's not what I meant."

"It's not?" Brooke asked in confusion, looking up at her with cloudy eyes. For the first time in what felt like forever, Brooke wasn't sure what Haley was thinking or talking about. She placed her hand on Haley's lower back, right on top of her tattoo, keeping her in place as she straightened up in the chair, pulling them both up into a more comfortable position. She blamed the pure sexiness of Haley on her lack of understanding right now. Having Haley this close to her, and on her lap, she was understandably finding it extremely hard to concentrate. Not that she was complaining in the least bit, though.

"No," Haley teased, shaking her head. As she looked at Brooke's adorable and confused face, she couldn't remember any of the reasons she had for being scared about this. She looked at Brooke and saw everything she ever wanted to see in the person she'd give her virginity to. Brooke was right last week at dinner, Haley realized, Brooke did look at her in a way that made it obvious to any random stranger that she was in love with her. It was obvious to Haley that Brooke loved her as much as she said she did, and looking into Brooke's eyes, Haley also knew that she had absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

"Then what did you mean?" Brooke watched as Haley's face both lit up in excitement and flushed a light pink at the same time when hearing the question. Haley bowed her head in embarrassment and let her hair fall forward, blocking her face from Brooke's view. Brooke frowned and reached forward, brushing the fallen hair over Haley's shoulder so she could see her face. "Baby, what is all of this about? What do you want to share with me?"

"Everything," Haley repeated, drawing out the word as best she could, and widening her eyes for effected. Brooke's brow furrowed in confusion for a moment as she looked at Haley and tried to get what she was saying. Haley bit her lip and rolled her eyes to the left, in the direction of her bed. Brooke didn't catch the meaning still and raised an eyebrow at her. Haley let out a sigh of frustration. Why did Brooke have to make everything so damn difficult? "Jesus, Brooke, I want to make love to you!" Brooke's eyes widened and her mouth hung open for a moment before she broke out into a smile.

"I know," she smirked, grimacing when Haley smacked her in the arm.

"Tigger!" Haley exclaimed, blushing an even deeper shade of red at what just happened. She knew that Brooke loved to tease her, but that was just cruel. Brooke laughed at the look of sheer embarrassment on Haley's face for a moment before sobering up when she received the death glare for her actions. "That was so mean!"

"I know, I'm sorry," Brooke admitted, giving Haley her special pout and puppy dog eyes. She had learned it from Haley a while ago, and quickly found that not only could Haley master the look, she wasn't immune to it. She let out another slight laugh, but stopped when Haley swatted her again. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, baby. I just figured; if you're mature enough to have it, you should be able to say it."

"You sound like my mother, or a mother anyway," Haley commented, even though she knew that was what Brooke was going for. She decided not to dwell on that fact for too long, since she didn't exactly want to be thinking about her mother right now, or any time she was with Brooke, really.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it," Brooke teased, leaning forward and kissing Haley softly on the lips, hoping for forgiveness. "You're just so darn cute when you blush, I had to do it."

"Yeah, well," Haley mocked, but her demeanor crumbled at the look Brooke was giving her. She sighed and slumped her shoulders, leaning into the hug Brooke was giving her and gave up. "You're lucky you're so darn cute, that I can't stay mad at you."

"I hope I didn't kill the mood." As much as Brooke loved this, she couldn't stop thinking about what Haley had said. She had expected her to say sex, but she didn't, she said make love. Brooke had had sex dozens of times, with dozens of different guys, but she'd never made love before. And she was looking forward to it.

"There wasn't much mood," Haley admitted, looking around her room and seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was exactly the way it was the night before, when they had laid down on her bed and went to sleep. "I wanted to make this really special, you know, cause it is. I wanted to have candles everywhere and maybe some rose petals or something, but Peyton said it was way too cheesy." Brook smiled at that, knowing that was defiantly something that her best friend would say. "Plus, can you believe that there isn't a single candle in this whole house?"

"That's craziness," Brooke replied in fake shock, as if it were really a big deal. Haley narrowed her eyes at her, not in the mood to be mocked anymore. Brooke placed her hand on Haley's lap, over her hand, intertwining their fingers together. "Baby, you know that no amount of candles or rose petals would make this night any more special than it's going to be."

"I knew you'd think like that," Haley said proudly, glad that she didn't follow Peyton's advice to get dressed up in some of Taylor's lingerie to greet Brooke at the door. That just felt too skanky, and they weren't about that. This wasn't about the physical; it was more about the emotional to them. "Peyton wanted to sex me all up for you, but I knew you didn't need that. That's why I decided on singing you the song."

"That's my girl," Brooke gushed, give Haley a pat on the butt for her good thinking. Haley smiled and gave her a 'who me?' look and blushed. "Doin' it Tigger Style, huh? Do you realize that every major step in our relationship has been accompanied by that song?"

"Why do you think I picked it, silly?" Brooke was being so amazing about this. Haley couldn't even believe that she had ever been afraid of this. She should have known that Brooke was going to be amazingly sweet about it, and help her every step of the way.

"Aw, my baby's such a smarty," Brooke sighed in happiness, bringing their lips together in a kiss. It was more passionate and more intense than the other ones that they had shared tonight, letting them both know that the small talk was coming to an end.

Brooke cupped her hand around Haley's ass, trying to turn her body around to face her. Haley got the message with the little brain functions that she still had, and pulled away for a split second to carefully maneuver her body so she was now straddling her girlfriend, and then brought their lips crashing back together as if they had never separated.

Haley didn't know if it was the position they were in, or knowing what was going to happen later, but she had never felt so hot over a kiss in her entire life. Everything that Brooke was doing; moving her tongue along her top lip slowly, nibbling on her bottom one and running her hands over her back, it was all driving her extra crazy tonight.

Brooke's mind was spinning as well, just a complete puddle of incoherent thoughts and buzzing emotions. She couldn't count the number of times that she and Haley had kissed, and yet it seemed that everytime they did it, it just kept getting better than the last. She hadn't been lying when she told Peyton that Haley's lips were Heaven, because they were. Everything about her girlfriend was heavenly, but there was just something about her lips, about the way they felt against her's that drove Brooke wild.

Without giving it another thought, Brooke leaned forward, bending Haley back and moved her lips to Haley's jaw line, leaving soft, wet kisses there, before leaving a trail down to her neck. She sucked and kissed and bit at the exposed skin as Haley swooned at the amazing feeling.

Haley's hands absently found their way into Brooke's hair and buried themselves there. She was partly hanging on and partly just trying to get any contact with Brooke possible. Her eyes fluttered open and closed as Brooke's soft lips and tongue left their impressions on her neck, collarbone and shoulder. After a few more moments of attention there, Brooke missed Haley's lips and went in search for them again.

Haley was completely lost in the feeling of pure pleasure, when she felt her body being lifted into the air. She could feel both of Brooke's hands on her ass, holding her firmly against her, carrying her over to the bed. Brooke didn't break their kiss for an instant, as she gently lowered Haley onto her back on the bed and placed herself on top of her, putting most of her weight on her forearms on either side of Haley's head.

Once they were both lying on the bed, Brooke reluctantly pulled away from Haley to look into her eyes, wanting to make sure that this was really what she wanted. She would never forgive herself if they went further with this and Haley wasn't completely sure about it. At the loss of contact, Haley's eyes fluttered open to see what Brooke was doing, and Brooke couldn't help but smile softly at her when she saw all the heat and desire in Haley's eyes.

"You stopped," Haley pointed out, not being able to think of anything else intelligent to say right now. Her mind was still trying to catch up with her hormones. Brooke laughed softly at her, leaning all her weight to one side, so she could reach up and brush some of Haley's tangled hair out of her face.

"I just wanted to make sure that this is what you want," Brooke whispered to her huskily, still trying to keep her labored breathing under control. Haley's glazed over and cloudy eyes roamed Brooke's face, falling on her swollen lips. She reached up and placed her fingers on them, tracing the edge of them. Brooke's eye flutter closed for a moment, as she kissed the fingers softly. "Baby…"

"I want this," Haley whispered, stopping any further protest that Brooke was going to make. She thought it was sweet that Brooke wanted to double check, but it was unnecessary. "I want you." She moved her hand to the back of Brooke's head and pulled her down towards her for a kiss. "I'm ready."

"I love you so much," Brooke breathed out, gazing down at the woman she loved more than anything. She'd never seen Haley look more beautiful as she did spread out underneath her. "I want you to know that before we do anything. I love you more than anything, baby, and whether we do this tonight or not, that won't change."

"I love you, too," Haley assured her, running her fingernails along the back of Brooke's neck, something she knew drove her girlfriend crazy. Their lips meet again within seconds and before long, Brooke's hands began to wander the length of Haley's smooth legs, finding their way up her thigh.

As Brooke's hand wandered Haley's body, and their tongues continued to dance in the mist of their kisses, Haley's hands found Brooke's skin, rubbing her back in a soothing manner. Soon, she brought her hands around to Brooke's front, laying them flat against Brooke's toned stomach.

Feeling Brooke's hand stop on her upper thigh, Haley decided that if she was ever going to get Brooke to start something, she'd have to do it. Being uncharacteristically bold, Haley let her hands travel up Brooke's shirt, all the way up to her breast, and let her fingers just graze them.

Brooke gasped at the sudden touch, immediately pulling back from Haley's lips to look at her again, but kept her hand firmly on Haley's thigh. Haley closed her eyes tight and the loss of contact and let out a quiet sigh at Brooke's hesitance.

"Hales, are you sure that this is what…"

"Brooke?" Haley cut her off, snapping her eyes open and glaring at the girl leaning over her.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up," she commended. Not waiting for Brooke's reply, she pushed herself up on her elbows and brought Brooke's lips together with her's for a sheering kiss, making sure to drive Brooke extra wild with her tongue. With one quick maneuver, she flipped Brooke so she was on her back, and Haley was stranding her.

"Okay," Brooke gasped, completely intoxicated by the woman on top of her. There was nothing she could do now, they were both too far gone to stop it, and she honestly didn't think she would ever want to.

Haley laughed at the glazed over look on Brooke's face, and shook her head. Without a second thought or any hesitation, Haley grabbed the hem of her shirt and quickly pulled it over her head in one quick motion, tossing it to the floor beside the bed. Brooke watched, completely fascination as Haley undid her bra, her hand not shaking one bit, and tossed it to the floor with her shirt.

"My God," Brooke whispered, letting her hands massage Haley's completely flat stomach, moving up, almost to her breasts before coming back down to rest on the sides of Haley's waist, as if holding her in place on top of her. "You're beautiful."

Even with all the bold moves that Haley had just finished doing, she still turned an adorable shade of red at the compliment. She smiled and leaned down, taking Brooke's cheeks in her hand and squeezing them so her face was scrunched together.

"What did I tell you about talking?"

"Sahwe," Brooke mumbled, looking up at Haley innocently. Haley giggled again and let Brooke's face loose, planting a wet one on her lips.

"Now," Haley began, straightening up and watching as Brooke stared at her naked chest heaving up and down as she tried to even out her breathing. "Let's get us even, missy." Brooke quickly scrambled into action, not wanting to waste any time getting her shirt off. Haley laughed at how fast she was moving. "That's more like it."

"I was just trying to be a gentlemen…" Brooke began to explain her slow start, but was cut off by an assault on her lips. After a moment, she felt Haley shimmy down her body so she was now leaning above her and start to kiss her neck. "Right, no talking." Haley giggled a little against Brooke's skin, moving up to whisper into her ear.

"I told you I liked it on top."

…WWHT…

"That was…wow," was the only thing Haley could think of as she collapsed against Brooke on the bed. She was covered in sweat and her hair wouldn't stay out of her face, but she couldn't keep the smile from her lips. She let out a content sigh and snuggled into Brooke's side, closing her eyes when she felt Brooke's arm wrap around her, pulling her close and kissing her messy hair softly. "I have never felt anything like that in my entire life."

"You enjoyed it?" Brooke asked, smirking against Haley's head at how giddy she was being. Just when she thought that Haley couldn't possibly get any cuter, she never stopped amazing her.

"It was amazing," Haley answered, still in awe at how happy and light headed she felt. Sure, she knew that sex was something that people enjoyed, but she couldn't say that she ever thought it would be that good. She knew, though, that if she had had it with anyone else it wouldn't have felt that good. It was the love that she had for Brooke, and the love that Brooke had for her, that made it that special.

Even though Haley's mind was still spinning a million miles a minute, she couldn't help but notice that Brooke hadn't really said anything in a while. Brooke was being uncharacteristically quiet and it was starting to scare Haley, almost enough to kill her buzz. Biting her lip, she tilted her head up, propping it on Brooke's upper chest to get a better look at her girlfriend, hoping to gage her mind frame.

"You're being quiet," Haley pointed out, trying not to show just how nervous she was. She had been so busy basking in the glory, she hadn't even thought about asking if Brooke enjoyed herself as much as she did. Judging by the way she was acting, the answer was no. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," Brooke answered simply, a serene grin on her lips, her eyes closed. After a moment, she could sense that Haley was looking at her, and she opened her eyes to meet Haley's. She could practically see the question marks in them. "What?"

"It's just, I just wanted to, you know, make sure…" Haley tried, fumbling over the words as she tried to decide the best way to ask this. It was an extremely difficult topic that left her pretty vulnerable. "I didn't know, since you hadn't really said anything, I was just worried that, that you maybe, didn't enjoy it as much as me? And I don't want you to feel like you have to lie to me, because I want to have a completely honest relationship, and you can tell me if I did something wrong, or if I was doing something too much or…"

"Oh, baby, you have no idea," Brooke drew out, her voice more calm and relaxed than it had ever been. She rubbed her hand up and down Haley's arm slowly, loosely wrapping her other arm around her body as well. She didn't understand why it was so hard for her to move, it was like she couldn't feel anything but the tingling in her toes and the incredibly happy buzzing in her head.

"I didn't, I didn't do anything wrong?" Haley asked, sounding like a little girl who had just been screamed at by her mother. Brooke's heart sank as she watched the vulnerability dance on Haley's face. She just didn't understand how someone as beautiful and smart and just plain incredible as Haley could possibly be so insecure.

"Of course not, baby," Brooke assured her, using all the strength she could muster up to hug Haley tightly against her. Haley relaxed at the words and the gesture, resting her head back down on Brooke's bare chest and closing her eyes, wrapping her arm loosing over Brooke's stomach. "I'm just having an incredibly hard time forming coherent thoughts let alone sentences. Just give me a moment to regain the feeling in my body and I'll tell you just how amazingly talented you are."

"Tigger," Haley giggled, blushing at the words. The most content smile came to her face at the reassurance and she began to trace shapes on the exposed skin on Brooke's stomach. Brooke laughed at her, marveling at the fact that Haley could be so dominating one minute and then blush at the smallest compliment the next. She was having a hard time believing that the girl from earlier was the same girl lying in her arms right now. "So, I was good, huh?" Haley couldn't help but ask, just to make sure.

"The best I've ever had," Brooke answered truthfully, the pleasure clear on her face. She honestly wasn't sure if it was the fact that she loved Haley more than anything that made what they shared so powerful, or if it was just because Haley was incredible in bed. Either way, Brooke couldn't believe that they had waiting this long to share something so beautiful.

"I better be," Haley teased playfully; strangely proud of what Brooke was saying. She never would have thought that it would mean so much to her, but knowing that she was good in bed, made her feel oddly confident.

"You sure you were a virgin?" Brooke asked, just for the sake of teasing her girlfriend. She heard an offended gasp come from Haley before the other girl turned her head to look up at her in shock at the mere insinuation. Brooke laughed and made a defensive face. "I mean, I've devirginized many a virgins, and I've got to tell you, none of them knew their way away a girl as well as you did."

"First of all, thank you," Haley replied, still making an offended face. "And second of all, I don't think devirginized is a word."

"Well then, Tutor Girl," Brooke began, tilting her head to the side to get a better look at Haley's adorable face. "What would you call it then?"

"Robbing virgins of their innocence," Haley stated without giving it a second thought at all. Brooke looked at her proudly, amused about the fact that it seemed Haley had thought a lot about this.

"I just robbed you of your innocence?" Brooke questioned with a pout. "But that was one of the things I loved so much about you."

"You didn't rob me," Haley reassured her, dropping a soft kiss on the skin that was under her lips. "I gave it to you. And I will always be innocent."

"You've just got that quality," Brooke agreed, wiggling her eyebrows for no reason but to make Haley laugh. Brooke loved the sound of Haley's laugh, it just seemed to make everything perfect, no matter what the problem was, that sound was just like music to her ears. "I've gotta say, Hales, you know how I've always said your lips are Heaven sent?"

"Uh huh."

"I think your tongue is too," Brooke answered in an amused, yet very serious tone. Haley's mouth dropped open in shock that Brooke would say something so vulgar right in front of her. "Not so innocent anymore, are you?" Brooke burst out into teasing laughter as Haley gasped and slapped her repeatedly. "Wow, Hales, I didn't know you liked it rough."

"Stop it," Haley whined, her face a record setting shade of red. Brooke smiled adoringly at her, not knowing that it was even possible to blush that much. "You're being mean."

"I'm sorry," Brooke mocked in the same whiney voice as Haley. She made the same the same pouty face that Haley was making, sticking out her bottom lip into an even bigger pout than Haley had. She made her infamous puppy dog eyes and leaned forward, and pressing her forehead against Haley's. "Do you forgive me?"

"I don't know," Haley answered as if she was really unsure about what she would do. She pulled back and looked at Brooke like she was trying to decide whether to forgive her or not and she was finding it really hard to keep a straight face when Brooke was looking at her like that. "You'll need to do something to make it up to me."

"Well," Brooke drew out, like it was a big problem. She pushed herself up and into a sitting position, forcing Haley to do the same. She brought her hand up to her chin in a mock thinking pose. Haley rolled her eyes, but played along. All of a sudden Brooke's eye lit up like two Christmas eyes and she jumped up without a second thought. "I have the perfect way to make it up to you."

"Where are you…" Haley began to ask, but trailed off as she watched Brooke giddily skip across her room in her bare feet, an extra bounce in her step. Haley couldn't help but enjoy the view as Brooke bent down to pick up the fallen bag that she had left by her door when she entered.

"I've got a present for you," Brooke exclaimed, with a giddy look in her eyes and smile on her face. Brooke made a mental note to thank Taylor a billion times the next time she saw her. Everyone thought that Tay was stupid, but at the moment, Brooke thought the blonde was probably one of the smartest people in the world.

"A present?"

"Yeah, Tay made me buy it at the mall," she explained. If she saw the disgusted look pass Haley's face at the mention of her big sister while they were in their current state and talking about the current subject, Brooke didn't show it.

"Okay, well give it to me," Haley demanded, her face lighting up. She turned her body around and knelt up, holding out her hands expectantly. "I love presents." The command only seemed to make Brooke's smile even bigger.

"I have to go change into it," she informed Haley, holding the bag up. Haley looked at her in confusion, not understanding what the present could possibly be. Brooke shook her head, not wanting to have to explain it to her adorably naïve girlfriend. "Be back in a sec." Without waiting for Haley to answer, Brooke let out a squeal and whipped the door open, skipping off to the bathroom.

"O-kay," Haley breathed out, completely unsure what the hell just happened. She didn't really care though; all she knew was that she had had sex, and the world didn't end, and there wasn't anything that could kill her buzz now. Rolling her eyes, she let out a content sigh, and fell back onto the bed to wait for her mistress to return.

…WWHT…

"Mhmm, Hales, we've already done it 5 times," Brooke mumbled in her sleep, slowly leaving the dream world behind as she returned to the real one.

The first thing that Brooke noticed was the sunlight hitting her face, forcing her to keep her eyes closed for the time being. The second thing she noticed was the fact that she wasn't just dreaming, that there was defiantly a naked body beside hers. And the third thing she noticed was the lips attached to said body, were currently working their magic on her neck.

"That tickles," she grumbled, not being able to think of anything else to say that early in the morning. She wasn't normally a morning person, but it seemed that lately, after she started spending the night in Haley's bed with her, she woke up in an almost chipper mood.

"I was wondering when you were gonna wake up," Haley commented, pulling away from Brooke's neck to give her a good morning kiss on the lips like they did every morning. "That dream sounded pretty hot. Dream Haley is quite the machine."

"You're telling me," Brooke moaned, attempting to laugh, but soon finding that it was too early in the morning for such advanced vocal activities. She turned her head to where she knew Haley was and risked a peek, and was happy to see that the sun wasn't going to blind her on this side. She opened both eyes and took in the sight of her girlfriend basking in her Morning After Glow. "Morning, Sexy."

"Morning, Beautiful," Haley replied with the same serene look on her face as Brooke had. She stretched forward and kissed Brooke again. Once they parted, Haley laid back down, flat on her back and stared up at Brooke, who had propped herself up on her elbow so she wasn't facing the sun at all and looking down at Haley. "So, um, when did you get that tattoo?"

"Oh, yeah," Brooke chuckled; surprised that Haley hadn't said something the moment she saw it last night. Must have been too wrapped up in everything to say something. Brooke was starting to think that Haley hadn't seen it. "That."

"When did you get it?" Haley asked, her hand absently moving down Brooke's stomach until her fingers landed on the tattoo that was on her pelvis. "How come you didn't tell me you got one when I showed you mine the other night?"

"I don't know," Brooke shrugged, watching Haley trace the outside of it. It wasn't anything too big or flashy; just a simple H surrounded by a heart. Not as original as Haley's, but it was the thought that counts. "I figured it would be a nice surprise for you. I got it a couple days after the dance." Haley smiled up at her; glad to know that Brooke had been so serious about all the amazing things she had said that night, even back then. That was even before their matching tattoo talk a few days later.

"I guess great minds think alike," Haley replied, unaware that Brooke had thought the exact same thing when she saw Haley's tattoo, just proving that statement to be even more true. Haley reached up to give Brooke yet another good morning kiss before snuggling back down into her side. They just laid in comfortable silence for a few moments, both lost in their own thoughts about tattoos and last night.

"So," Brooke began, moving her eyes to trail along the length of Haley's beautiful body. Soon, her eyes were back to Haley's face. "That was a first, huh?"

"I'll have to add it to the list," Haley said cheekily, making a checkmark in the air as if she was ticking something off. "Do you have any idea just how many firsts I've had with you?"

"Well, I can name one," Brooke smirked down at her, wiggling her eyebrows and licking her lips in a completely comedic manner as she poked Haley in the nose.

"Besides that, silly," Haley told her, trying to be serious, but she had to laugh at Brooke's behavior. Brooke could tell that she was trying to be serious, and toned down the funny, giving Haley her full attention. "You were the first person to hear me sing, you were my first real girlfriend… or boyfriend, you know what I mean. You're the first person I've ever been in love with, you're the first person I've ever brought home that Taylor actually liked, you're the first person to ever get in a fist fight over me, and not only were you the first person I've ever slept with, you're the first and only person I've ever even considered sleeping with."

"I'm that special, huh?" she asked, running her fingers along Haley's face, brushing back each individual strand of hair that had fallen out of place during the night. Brooke couldn't help but gloat. Hearing Haley go over all these things that they had only shared, it made Brooke feel so special and so loved. That feeling was so foreign to her; no guy in her life had ever treated her like that. Haley nodded and adverted her eyes for a moment, biting her bottom lip nervously. "What else, baby?"

"Well," Haley began, finally looking Brooke in the eyes. "You promise not to laugh at me?" Brooke gave her a ridiculous look, showing her that she couldn't believe that after everything, she thought she would actually be capable of doing something like that. "Okay, so we never really talked about this, mostly because I was a little embarrassed by it, but um, you were kinda my first kiss, too."

"What?"

"The night in the café," Haley explained, regretting this already. She knew she should have just kept her mouth shut. But for some reason, after what they shared last night, she had this urge to tell Brooke anything and everything about her. "When you kissed me, that was my first kiss."

"You're kidding me, right?" Brooke stared down at Haley in shock. There was no way what Haley was saying was true. She thought back to their first kiss, remembering it fondly, and just how damn hot it had been. She felt the same shiver run down her spine as she did that night and shook her head.

"I know, it's pathetic," Haley mumbled, silently cursing herself for saying anything. "I was almost 17 years old and I'd never kissed anyone…"

"No, that's not what I'm talking about," Brooke quickly cut her, not wanting her feel bad about something she shouldn't. "I just can't believe that was your first kiss. I mean, that was the best kiss I had ever had! And I've kissed a lot of people, and I mean, a lot! I couldn't stop thinking about our make out session for forever! You're the best kisser I've ever met. And it just blows my mind how it's even possible to be as good as you are without practice." Haley looked up at her in surprise, but clearly happy at her words. "Though, you certainly blew my mind last night, and that was supposedly your first time doing that."

"It was!" Haley exclaimed. Even though she knew that Brooke was just teasing her, she couldn't help the need she felt everytime to defend herself.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Brooke started to say. "This was a first for me too." Haley raised an eyebrow at her doubtfully and had to force herself not to burst out laughing at Brooke's comment.

"Tigger," Haley sighed, reaching up and patting Brooke's cheek. "We didn't exactly run in the same circle of friends, and I mean this in the most loving way possible, but I know you used to get around." Brooke faked a hurt gasp, but quickly gave it up when she realized that Haley wasn't going to play along.

"I don't mean it like that," she corrected, with a pointed glare. "You said something last night, and it really got me thinking, you know for that split second before you took your shirt off, then everything just kinda gets fuzzy." That earned her yet another smack in the arm.

"Get on with it, missy," Haley warned her.

"You said that you wanted to make love," Brooke explained quickly, not wanting to be abused any further. "And I realized that that's exactly what we'd be doing. It wouldn't be sex, you know? Yeah, I've had sex a bunch of times, but last night was the first time that I'd ever made love. Because you're the first person I've ever been in love with."

"Aw, Tigger," Haley gushed, pulling Brooke down to meet her lips in a sweet kiss for her sweet words. "That's so sweet. I love you, too." Brooke got in a couple of more kisses before pulling back again.

"This is also my first Morning After," she informed her with a proud grin. "I've never really stuck around long enough after the deed to have one. And I've gotta tell you, I could definitely get used to this."

"Well, you're gonna have too." Before Haley a chance to say anything more, the shrill ring of the telephone interrupted her. She groaned and rolled over to grab the phone off the nightstand, thankful that she had left it there last night, because she was defiantly not in the mood to walk anywhere at the moment.

"Aw, don't answer that," Brooke complained, not wanting to be interrupted. Haley send her a sympathetic smile and looked at the caller ID; Pey Pey.

"It's Peyton," Haley informed her and pressed talk. Brooke let out a sigh and flopped down on her back beside Haley in frustration. That damn blonde! She always seemed to weasel her way into every major event in their relationship lately. "Hey."

"Hey, baby sis," came the voice from the other end, a voice that certainly didn't belong to Peyton.

"Tay?" Haley questioned. Brooke's ears perked up at the name. Taylor was calling from Peyton's house at, she looked at the alarm clock and groan inwardly, 8 in the morning? Now this was interesting.

"The one and only," the blonde laughed on the other end. Haley could hear giggling also, and she was almost positive that was Peyton. "So, how did everything go last night? Am I interrupting some morning nookie or anything?"

"No and it was perfect," Haley sighed, flashing back to the night before and how amazing Brooke had made her feel. She was silent for a moment, glancing over at Brooke to find that she was watching her. They shared a smile; both thinking about the same thing, before Haley remembered that her big sister was on the line. "How did things go on your end?"

"Better than perfect," Taylor told her, leaving very little for her baby sister to figure out on her own. Haley was confused for a moment, before she remembered her conversation with Peyton the day before, and her eyes widened at the realization of what must of happened.

"Oh my God!" Haley squealed in excitement. Brooke jumped at the sound, almost falling out of the bed. Taylor pulled the phone away from her ear. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! Are you serious?" Brooke tried to snuggle against her so she could hear what the hell had gotten Haley so excited, but the other brunette, yanked the phone away and rolled away from her.

"Calm down there, Haley-bub," Taylor laughed, not believing that Haley was getting so worked up over this. She knew that they would be excited, but she never imagined this, at least not from Haley anyway. Brooke, maybe, but not Haley. "And yes, I'm serious, you're not 'Oh my God'ing for no reason. I followed your dear Brookie's advice and told Peyton everything. Then we did other stuff."

"That is so amazing!" Haley cheered, not being able to control herself. She too was surprised at just how excited she was. She was happy to hear Peyton confess her feelings to her yesterday, and although she had said she was going to think about it, Haley didn't really think her best friend would do it. Looks like she was more excited about this than she thought. "I want to hear everything, every little detail. Except for that last thing you said, I don't need to hear about that."

"Same goes for me, Hay," Taylor told her, assuming that she'd understand that she wanted the G-rated details only of Brooke and Haley's night as well. "Me and Pey were just gonna head over to Karen's and we thought we'd phone and see if you guys wanted to join us. That way we can break the news to Brooke that I'm off the market."

"I'll ask Tigger," Haley said into the phone before covering it and turning to her curious girlfriend. "Breakfast at the Café with Pey and Tay?" Haley asked her, smiling at the rhyming names. She wished her and Brooke had rhyming names. Brooke shrugged and nodded. Haley smiled and uncovered the phone. "Sure. Just give us about an hour. We still need to shower and stuff."

"Take one together," Taylor suggested in all seriousness. "It saves time and water. Not to mention that shower sex is the hottest."

"Ew, said the little sister," Haley replied, but made she to keep the suggestion in mind. Brooke couldn't help but smile at how cute Haley was. She wished she had an older sister or even a younger one. The two James sisters were just too cute for words when they were bantering. "We'll see you there about quarter after 9, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," Taylor agreed, giggling as Peyton nibbled on her ear. "I, ah, I gotta go. Love ya, sis." Before Haley could ask anything else, the line went dead. Did Taylor just giggle? Taylor James had never giggled in her entire life.

"Love you, too," Haley mumbled, staring at the phone for a moment with a smile, just picturing what the two of them were doing right now, before pressing the End button and tossing the phone onto the pile of discarded clothes that had gathered on the floor.

"She really loves you, you know?" Brooke told her, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. Haley was surprised at the sudden words, and rolled over, back onto her back and turned her head so she was looking at Brooke.

"What?"

"Taylor," Brooke repeated. "She really loves you."

"Oh, yeah," Haley laughed slightly, surprised that she didn't understand the first time. "I know that."

"No, I don't think you do." Brooke shook her head and let her eyes wander around Haley's room for moment. "I don't think you know just how much Taylor loves you." Haley looked at her in confusion; not getting where she was going with this. "We were at the mall yesterday, and I guess since she knew what we were going to be doing later, she thought it was time to have the Big Sister talk with me. I could tell that she felt awkward, but she was determined to get it done. It was pretty cute, actually. Anyway, she said some pretty amazingly sweet things about how she feels about you. I knew you guys were closer than most sisters, I knew that she loved you, but I never would have guessed just how much."

"Not a lot of people get Taylor," Haley nodded. She was surprised at Brooke's words, but at the same time, she wasn't. After all, Taylor James had one of the biggest hearts Haley knew. "They're surprised at just how loving she can be. Nobody really knows the real Taylor, but me. I'm the only person she's even been herself around."

"Yeah, the things she said," Brooke agreed, smiling as she thought about what Taylor had said the day before. "They were pretty sweet. She said she loved you more than anything in the whole world, that you meant everything to her, that you were the one good thing in her life, the one thing she was proud of, and that she'd do anything to make you happy."

"Really?" Haley whispered, genuinely surprised that Taylor had said all those things. She never had a doubt that Taylor loved her, but she honestly didn't think that she meant that much to her older sister. She suddenly had to fight the urge to run all the way over to Peyton's house and break up whatever sex they were having, just to hug Taylor for dear life and never let her go.

"Well, there was a lot more," Brooke answered, glad that Haley was so affected by that. Even though Brooke hadn't said anything yesterday, some of the things Taylor had said bothered her. "And it was much more poetic and sweet coming from her, but that was the jest of it."

"I hope she knows that I love her just as much," Haley wondered out load. "I wouldn't have been able to survive the first 16 years of my life without her. She was pretty much my everything for most of my life. Until you." Brooke frowned at that part. That was the part she felt bed about.

"Don't say that," Brooke begged her. "Please don't say 'until you' like I'm coming between you and Tay, because that is absolutely the last thing that I want. She told me yesterday that she was stepping down as your protective big sister, that it was my job to protect you and make you happy now. You should have seen the look on her face, baby, I've never seen someone look so sad. It was like she thought that now that we were together, that you didn't need her anymore."

"That's ridiculous," Haley exclaimed, finding that very thought unbelievable. She remembered the look on Taylor's face on Sister's Day, when she had been joking around and told Taylor that she was going to ditch her for Brooke. Taylor had looked devastated and just thinking about it broke Haley's heart. "I'll always need Tay! She's my big sister! How could I not need her?"

"I think you should tell her that," Brooke suggested, feeling bad that she had made Haley feel bad. That was just about the last thing she wanted to do. "I see how cute you guys are together, and the last thing I want to do is come between you guys…"

"No, no, sweetie," Haley immediately stopped her. She scooter closer to her in the bed, and grabbed her hand, bringing it to her lips and kissing it softly. "If it's anyone's fault for making Taylor feel that way, it's mine. I'm the one that's been neglecting her and spending less time with her. It's not your fault I'm a horrible sister."

"Hey, hey," Brooke soothed, reaching forward and kissing Haley on the forehead. "You are not a horrible sister. You're the best sister, Taylor even said so. She said that she always tries to be the big sister you deserve because you're the perfect little sister."

"I've got some serious groveling to do," Haley concluded, wincing at Brooke's words. That didn't help, that just made her feel guiltier. "I hope you don't mind, but you probably won't be seeing me for the next few days as I feel that me and Tay are in some serious need of sisterly bonding time."

"I'll miss you, baby," Brooke answered. "But I don't mind. I actually encourage it. And, I'm sure me and Pey could use some time together too." Haley smiled and nodded, thinking that was a great idea. Brooke looked down at their intertwined fingers. "We kinda got caught up in each other, didn't we?"

"Maybe a little bit," Haley answered sadly. She had never wanted to be one of those girls that were completely obsessed and dependant on her boyfriend, but after being with Brooke, it was so hard to be apart from her. "And I don't think it's a bad thing that we love to spend so much time together, but I don't think it's too good for our other relationships. And I'm not just talking about Taylor; I can't remember the last time I hung out with Lucas. At least we've hung out with Peyton, you know."

"We'll make sure to spend more time with the other people we love," Brooke promised her. It sucked that she had let herself get so completely immersed in this relationship that she had neglected her other friends, but Haley was just so addictive, she could never seem to get enough of her.

"That sounds good," Haley agreed with a smile. She was so glad that her and Brooke always seemed to be on the same page about things like these. If she had been with anyone else, she couldn't imagine them being so understanding.

"Good," Brooke mumbled, distracted by Haley's lips. She didn't say anything more, just silently leaned forward, capturing Haley's lips in a reassuring kiss. She wanted Haley to know that they were still going to be just as strong as ever, it was just that other people would help hold them up too. Pretty much everyone knew about them now, there was no need to isolate themselves anymore; they were free to act like a couple when they were hanging out with their friends. Brooke smiled; she couldn't wait for their first complaint of PDA from someone that wasn't Peyton or Taylor. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, too." Haley pulled away and glanced at the clock. They still had almost an hour before they had to get to the Café. Her eyes lit up, and a devilish smile came to her lips. "I think I have the perfect idea how we can spend the last little bit of our time together."

"Oh, yeah?" Brooke laughed, the amusement dancing in her voice. Haley nodded emphatically and grabbed her hand, pulling them both up and off the bed, neither bothering to grab covers. "And what's that?" Haley's giggles were the only answer she got as she was pulled down the hallway, before they abruptly came to a halt. Brooke steadied herself after crashing into Haley's back; causing some much welcomed friction between them, and peered over Haley's shoulder.

"What are we gonna do in the bathroom?"

…WWHT…

"Hales, could you at least wait until I stop the car?" Brooke called out to her girlfriend when they pulled up to the curb outside Karen's Café. I was no use though; Haley was already out of the car and half way through the door by the time the words were out of her mouth. Brooke sighed and turned off the car, unbuckling her seatbelt and slowly stepping out of the car.

Haley wasn't moving so slowly however. After some very hot shower sex with Brooke, she had started to become anxious again. She had finally just given up waiting, and demanded that Brooke drive her over to the Café. She had spotted both blondes already in the almost completely empty Café and Haley had jumped out of the car the minute it had started to slow down.

Haley needed to talk to her sister, and she needed to talk to her now. She couldn't deal with the guilt for any longer; she needed to knock some sense into Taylor right away. All eyes were on Haley as she practically ripped the front door off its hinges when she entered. Peyton and Taylor stopping their conversation in mid sentence at the noise and spun around in their stools to see what the hell was going on, only to find Haley barreling towards them.

"Tay!" Haley cheered, happiness overflowing inside of her at the sight of her big sister. Peyton immediately jumped off her stool and moved a couple of steps away from the older girl, not wanting to get hit by Hurricane Haley.

"Hay, what are you…" Taylor didn't have time to finish her sentence before Haley crashed into her, almost knocking her off the stool and landing them both on the floor. Taylor felt almost every bone in her upper body get crushed against Haley's, as Haley hugged her for dear life.

"Oh, God, Tay," Haley cried, as tears welled up in her eyes just thinking about how crummy she must have made Taylor feel over the past couple of weeks. That thought made her hug her big sister even tighter. "I'm so sorry, I'm so so so sorry."

The bell above the door rung as Brooke stepped inside and almost burst out laughing at the look of pure shock and confusion on Taylor's face as Haley held her to the point of suffocation. Seeing her best friend enter, Peyton quietly moved over to stand beside her, not tearing her eyes from the scene before her.

"What the hell has she been smoking?" Peyton whispered to Brooke. Brooke chuckled and shook her head.

"It's nothing like that," Brooke assured her, smiling at the adorable scene before her. "She's just feeling a little bit guilty."

"Guilty?" Peyton asked. Brooke nodded. "About what?"

"She thinks Taylor's been feeling a little bit neglected," Brooke informed her. She saw Peyton face soften and she immediately pulled the blonde into a hug. "I know that I've been really wrapped up in Haley lately, and we haven't really spent that much time alone together, not like we used to and I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Peyton sighed, happy to hear those words. She never would have said anything to anyone, not even Taylor, but she had been missing Brooke lately. She pulled out of the hug and smiled at Brooke. "I know you didn't mean it, new relationship and all. We'll have all summer to chill. We can go on double dates and everything."

"But then what's Taylor gonna do?" Brooke asked, not even thinking about what Peyton had said. Peyton gave her a pointed look, conveying everything she needed to with the shit eating grin on her face. Brooke's eyes widened like saucers as the realization finally hit her. "SHUT UP!"

Taylor could see Brooke scream something, but she couldn't quite hear it because she was pretty sure that Haley had popped her eardrums from the pressure of her hug. Okay, she couldn't breathe now.

"Haley-bub," she choked out, surprised at the high pitch of her voice. She sounded like she had just sucked up a balloon. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Hay." Nothing, she didn't even loosen her hold for a split second. "HALEY!"

"Oh," Haley squeaked, realizing that she might have been hugging her too tight. She pulled back and noticed the terrified look on Taylor face. She sniffled back the tears and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry."

"What the hell was that?"

"I need you!" Haley spit out, not being able to hold it in any longer. There was no time for explanations. "You're my big sister, of course I need you. I'll always need you! You have been looking out for me since the day I was born. Nobody ever loved me the way you did! You kicked Billy Davidson's ass when he broke up with me in 6th grade! Tay, you've been my hero since forever. Hell, my first word was Taylor!" Haley took a breath and continued. "It's been you and me against the world since the day I was born. I could of never asked for a better big sister than you. You mean everything to me, and that'll never change, no matter who comes in my life, I'll always love you and need you just like I did when Billy broke my heart."

"Haley-bub," Taylor whispered, her own tears making an appearance.

"I'm sorry if I haven't been around much lately," Haley continued, ignoring whatever Taylor was going to say. "I'm going to change. You and me are going to spend the next three days together, doing anything you want, I don't care. I'll even go bungee jumping with you like you wanted to last year, anything," she pleaded with Taylor, begging her for her forgiveness. "Just please don't stop being my big sister. And please don't think that I don't need you, because I do! I've never needed someone as much as I need you!"

"Oh, baby," Taylor cried, pulling Haley into her own bone-crushing hug. "I should have known that Brooke was going to open her big mouth." She sighed and pulled back so she could look into Haley's eyes as she said it. She reached up and wiped away the tears on Haley's cheeks. Haley would never know just how much she needed to hear all of that. "I will never, ever, stop being your big sister, I could never stop doing that. Hay, you're not just my baby sister, you're my best friend, you always have and always will be everything to me and I love you more than anything. I can't even begin to describe just how much I love you."

"Me too, I love you too." They shared another watery smile before falling back into each other's arms. They stayed that way for a few minutes, while Brooke and Peyton stood by, watching their girls with matching smiles. After they had time to compose themselves, their respective girlfriends came sauntering over.

"You two cry babies good?" Peyton asked, moving to Taylor's side and wrapping her arm around her waist. Taylor stuck her tongue out at her and nodded, resting her head on Peyton's shoulder. Peyton squeezed her and dropped a kiss on her head.

"Guess what, baby?" Brooke asked as she slipped onto the stool beside Taylor, and pulled Haley towards her, positioning her so she was standing between her legs, and wrapped her arms around Haley's waist from behind. Haley pressed her body into Brooke's, but still held Taylor's hand absently. Haley titled her head back to look up at Brooke.

"What?"

"It appears that your sister and my best friend finally hooked up last night." Brooke made a happy face, waiting for Haley to explode in surprise, but was disappointed when nothing came.

"Yeah, I know," Haley shrugged it off as if she hadn't freaked out herself when she found out about them. Brooke's mouth hung open, suddenly remembering Haley's little freak out when she had been on the phone with Taylor an hour ago. "Taylor let it slip when she called earlier."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Brooke grumbled, but soon got over it. She was just too happy to be with Haley and have Peyton and Taylor together finally. It was like everything was finally perfect in the world. "Well, you owe me ten bucks."

"Man, I was hoping you'd forget about that," Haley pouted. A thought entered her mind and she leaned up, whispering in Brooke's ear. Brooke's eyes widened at the words and she practically started to drool.

"Yeah, that should cover it," she choked out, finding it hard to think straight now. Suddenly, she couldn't wait until tonight. She licked her lips, making sure that Haley saw it, before they looked back up to meet Peyton and Taylor's disapproving stares.

"You guys bet on us?" Brooke and Haley shared a look then nodded their heads. "How could you do that?" Peyton asked, though she wasn't really mad. It was so something that Brooke would do after all.

"How could you be so sure we'd get together?" Taylor asked Brooke, since she was the one that apparently believed they'd hook up. Haley looked up at Brooke, curious to hear the answer to. Brooke shrugged and pulled Haley closer to her, dropping a soft kiss on her lips.

"Some people are just meant to be."

…WWHT…

Okay. That's all folks. I'm hoping that you all liked how everything ended, and weren't too disappointed that I didn't do anything graphic with the sex scene. While I do enjoy reading that kind of stuff, it wasn't right for this story. Plus, as you could probably tell, I'm not to good at writing that kind of smut.

Anyway, I hope you guys weren't mad at the extremely long length of this chapter, or the extra Peyton/Taylor I added it. I just thought that they deserved so time as well, and after all the subtle buildup, I really wanted to give them a pay off. Please tell me if you didn't like them, and I'll be sure not to put so much of them together in the sequel, when I finally write it, which will probably be set during their first year of college.

As I've said before, I already have the first chapter of the prequel all typed up, so let me know if you guys are still interested in it. I know you said you were before, but I wasn't sure know that the rough beginning of their relationship was revealed in this chapter, I didn't know if you'd all still be interested in reading it. Let me know please. If it's a yes, I'll have the first chapter up pretty soon.

I'd appreciate all the feedback I get, and I'm hoping you guys will give me some great reviews for this chapter because you have no idea how long I spent writing this. So please, if it's possible, give me more than a 3-word review. I'd really like to know what you liked most about this chapter, what you didn't, or what you thought of the ending over all.

Well, okay then. This is it. Thank you all so much for reading and always continuing to review, it means more than you know and I hope that you'll continue to follow these two as I take them on their next journey.

Until next time, later.