Lucas sighed as he watched Jake go for the layup. The sweat dampened his handsome, worried face as the ball was thrown back to him.

"So that's the story, huh?"

"Pretty much", Lucas sighed. "In a nutshell, Brooke is mad at me. But she won't come right out and say she's mad at me."

"Women", Jake shook his head. "That's how they are. Trust me…I live with two of them."

"What am I gonna do, man?"

"Fix it."

Lucas rolled his eyes. Easier said than done.

"I already tried that. Brooke wanted a proposal so I proposed but she said no anyway. Now she's pissed only she's trying to pretend that she's not pissed off."

Jake chuckled.

"Are you serious, Luke?"

"What?"

"I mean, you didn't honestly think that would work, did you?"

Lucas made a face.

"I don't understand."

"Man, you have a lot to learn."

"Jake…"

"Brooke loves you. She wants to be your wife. Probably not tomorrow but someday down the road, I'm sure she'd like to think that you guys are headed to the altar."

"Then why did she turn me down?"

"Because you did it the wrong way and in her eyes, for the wrong reason", Jake replied as he sank yet another basket.

"I did it because I love her and because I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

"But it seemed like you did it to pacify her because she asked."

Lucas had never thought of it that way.

"But…"

"Think about it, man. No romance, no spontaneity, not even a ring. You know how girls are, especially Brooke. She's the girliest of them all. Did you see that sappy look in her eye when Mouth was talking about how he was planning to propose to Erica at sunset on the beach with lots of rose petals after a romantic picnic."

Lucas bounced the ball.

"Oh man. Dude, I'm an idiot, huh?"

Jake smiled.

"Yeah. A nice idiot. But an idiot nonetheless."

"I have to do it again. I have to do it right."

"Maybe so but just think about it. This is a huge decision. Don't go rushing everything. And it's not just about what Brooke wants but it should be about what you want to."

"How so?"

"Marriage is a big deal. Make sure this is what you both want and that you're ready and the time is right. Don't let anything else influence or pressure you. If you're in love with Brooke, which I know you are, just be sure that you marry her because that's what is in your heart."

Lucas nodded. Jake was right.

"Damn, man? You been watching Dr. Phil or something? When did you get so smart about stuff like this?"

"It's called living with Peyton and uh…who the hell watches Dr. Phil, man?" he joked. "Personally, I'm an Oprah man myself."

Lucas returned his smile.

"What about you? When are you gonna follow your own advice?"

"Marrying Peyton?"

"Yeah."

Jake shrugged.

"Remember what I said about the time being right? I don't know if it will ever be right with us. I love Peyton. I want to be with her forever. Hell, it already feels like we've been together forever and with her, forever isn't even long enough for me. We made a great life together and she's the greatest mom to Jenny. As a father I couldn't ask for more."

"So you don't want to marry her?"

"More than you know. But she doesn't want to marry me…or anyone for that matter. Her motto is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'."

"Does that bother you?"

"For now? No. But it might cause more problems down the road. For instance we have talked about maybe in a few years having a child together."

"That's great, Jake."

"But I won't do it unless we're married. That's just how I feel. My situation with Nikki was different but I want to bring another kid into a loving, stable environment with two married parents. I won't budge on that and it doesn't look like Pey is willing to compromise on that either."

"So what's gonna happen?"

Jake shrugged.

"Who knows? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Lucas took a deep breath as it was his turn to shoot again. The back door swung open and out came Jenny with the cordless phone.

"Telephone!" she announced.

"Who is it, bug?" Jake asked, wiping his brow with the end of his shirt.

"It's Aunt Brooke for Uncle Lucas."

"Jen, tell her I'm not here", Lucas whispered to the child.

He had a lot of thoughts to process and he needed time before speaking to Brooke. For the moment he wanted to relax with his friend and just shoot hoops in the backyard.

"Aunt Brooke, Uncle Lucas said to tell you he's not here", she spoke matter of factly.

Jake and Lucas cringed.

"Jenny!" Jake fussed.

Jenny held the phone to her ear for a few seconds before covering up the receiver.

"Uncle Lucas, Aunt Brooke says she heard you and she says it's important and she's says it's rude of you and she wants to know why your cell phone is turned off and…what else, Aunt Brooke? Oh…okay…yeah, she says to get your skinny ass on the phone now."

"Jen! Watch your mouth", Jake corrected.

"What? She said it first, Dad."

Busted! Lucas sighed and mouthed a silent prayer before taking the phone.

"What's up, babe?"

"Getting a little kid to lie for you? Nice work, Broody. What's next?"

"Sorry. Look, don't be mad, okay? I swear it wasn't like that. I…"

"Whatever. I'll deal with you later. For now we have much bigger fish to fry."

"What happened?"

"Your brother is in jail."

"What? Nathan?"

"Dan Scott has other kids floating around Tree Hill? Yes, Lucas. Nathan."

"What happened?"

"I don't know the whole story. All I know is Jamarah and I were hanging out watching J. Lo on MTV and Haley goes out for a walk, then Nathan goes out for a walk and they're gone forever and everything is hunky dory, hearts and flowers until one of your father's little picture happy friends happened to spot them on the beach."

"Oh no", Lucas sighed.

"Oh yes. Nathan flipped. I guess he tried to take the guy's camera and the guy put up a fight and Nathan hit him and kept hitting him and Haley freaked out and tried to stop him and she got hit in the process."

"Is Hales okay?"

"Shaken up and upset but physically she's alright. Anyway, the worm was beaten to a bloody pulp, which if you ask me, he got what he deserved. But he called the cops like a little bitch and apparently the Tree Hill P.D. isn't a big fan of taking the law into your own hands. So in a nutshell, Nathan is locked up, I didn't want to call Dan even though I'm sure he'll be able to smell the controversy, Haley is a nervous, pissed off mess and Jamarah just ate a Gerber bottle bull of strained sweet potatoes so you can imagine what that diaper is going to look like in a matter of minutes. Bottom line, as always, I am stuck in the middle of another wacky, drama filled episode of As The Scott Family turns and I don't know what to do. So Broody you might want to get your ass downtown before this place is swarming with press."

Lucas sighed as he hung up.

"You okay, man? You look pale. All I heard was Nathan and jail. That can't be good."

"It's not. But I have to go. I'll explain later."

They knocked fists as Lucas found car keys and headed to go save the day once more.