Hello people! Thank you for your fabuloso reviews, they were awesome! Special thanks to everyone who suggested majors; you were all really helpful! Also to those who had suggestions for the story, one of you has struck gold, and guessed the plot…so…good for you! (I'm not telling who cos it'll spoil it – even though it's not exactly a shocker)

I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, I've had a serious mind block when it comes to writing recently…but hopefully it's cured now! What I'd planned for chapter 2 has been split into two parts because it got kind of long and I wanted to post something now. I'll have the rest up this weekend. So for now, enjoy!

"Hey Davis."

Brooke looked up from where she was doing homework on her bed.

"Hey Brad."

"Where's the other sexy senorita?"

"Out, sorry."

"Oh well. Are you up for going out tonight?"

"Sorry, I've got tons of work to do."

Brad nodded as a girl came up behind him, "Brooke, what's going on? Busy tonight?"

"Bad luck Tina, she's busy," Brad said, as Brooke gave her an apologetic look.

The two left, and Brooke continued her paper. She and Carrie were pretty popular at college, which suited them just fine, having both been homecoming queen etc in high school and used to being the head of a group.

They had fun, organising parties, and going out most nights, but sometimes they just wanted to stay in and hang out.

Carrie came in a little later wrapped in a parka and scarf. "Jesus Christ it's freezing out there! I swear if it weren't for Christmas I would hibernate for the whole of winter."

Brooke chuckled, and moved over on her bed as Carrie flopped down on it. "Speaking of, have you decided what you're doing yet? Do you want to come back with me or what?"

Brooke held up a letter that was lying beside her.

"Your parents finally decided to write? Are you spending it with them?"

"Nope, but Peyton's dad did. I'm going to Tree Hill for Christmas."

"That's cool! You must be looking forward to see everyone."

"Yeah, it should be great."

"Are Nathan and Hales going too?"

"Yup, I spoke to them this afternoon."

"What about lover boy?"

Brooke rolled her eyes, "What have I told you about calling him that? And I'm not sure."

"Call him! You do it enough anyway."

Brooke sighed and reached for the phone, but just as she touched it it rang.

"If that's him you guys are soul mates, no question," Carrie joked, and stood up, heading for her desk.

Brooke picked it up, resting her chin on her hand. "Hello?" She chuckled as she heard the voice on the other end, "…hey Broody."

She saw Carrie shake her head from the other side of the room.

"Yeah I just got a letter from Larry today…a week maybe?…Cool…okay, great, I'll see you then…yeah talk to you soon…you too, bye."

"He's going?" Carrie asked as she hung up.

"Yup, a week in Tree Hill with the old gang!"

"Sounds like fun!"

"You know you can come too if you want, since I can't come to - "

"Oh please, and be a total seventh wheel? Go have fun with them, I'll see you when you get back. Besides, you already missed out on Thanksgiving with them."

"Yeah, thanks to my crappy parents. I swear they decide they want to have something to do with me at the worst possible times!"

Carrie chuckled. "Yeah, well, at least it shows they still have some interest in you."

Brooke rolled her eyes, "I guess."

A few days later Brooke and Carrie were both packing their bags and heading off to the airport. Carrie's flight to Iowa left just a little after Brooke's, so they shared a cab there.

Carrie hugged Brooke goodbye as she headed off for her gate. "Say hi to Nathan and Haley for me, and don't forget to tell the others all about me…and show them pictures!"

Brooke laughed, "I promise you, by the time I leave they will know who you are!"

"Good. And if anything happens with Loverboy you have to call me, okay?"

Brooke rolled her eyes, "Nothing is going to happen! I'm only there for a week."

"Like that matters! If he was my ex I'd only need one night!"

Brooke laughed and shook her head, "Bye Carrie!"

"Bye B, have fun."

Brooke headed towards her gate, her bag on her shoulder. Going back to Tree Hill for the first time in months? There was no way she wouldn't have fun!

Lucas came through the gate of the airport, looking around him. Haley had said that she, Nathan and Brooke would come to meet him, but he couldn't see them anywhere. He was just taking out his cell phone to call one of them when the wind was knocked out of him a body flinging itself into his. Arms wrapped around his neck and his vision was obscured by a torrent of dark brunette hair.

He hugged Brooke back, relishing the feeling of being close to her once more, and wrapped his arms firmly around her.

"I missed you so much," Brooke whispered in his ear, and Lucas knew she really meant it; it wasn't often she showed her emotions this clearly.

Brooke stepped back, and Lucas saw Haley and Nathan standing behind her. Haley hugged him tightly and Nathan clapped him on the back.

"How's it going Luke?" Nathan asked.

"Really good," Lucas replied, grinning at them all.

"So, where to first man?" Nathan asked, as they made their way to the car.

"I'd like to drop in at the café, see my mom and stuff," he said.

Nathan checked his watch, "Cool, we can all eat dinner there."

"When did you guys arrive?" Lucas asked, as they all got in Nathan's car.

"We drove down yesterday, arrived just last night. Brooke got in this morning."

"Are you staying at Hales'?"

"Yes," Nathan said chuckling, "no way am I re-entering the Dan Scott torture chamber at Christmas!"

Lucas laughed. "Well you'll have to face him eventually, I hear we're all having Christmas dinner together."

"Yeah, well, I reckon it'll be okay with witnesses around. Should be pretty interesting though."

Brooke laughed. "Interesting…yeah…"

They pulled up to the café and got out. Before they had even made it through the door Karen had run outside to greet her son, hugging him tightly. Lucas caught Brooke's eye over her shoulder and she smirked at his mother's overblown display of affection. He sidled up to her as they made their way inside, "Like you're one to talk."

Brooke rolled her eyes and ignored his comment, unable to think of a good comeback seeing as he had a point.

The four of them ate dinner together that night at the café. Karen came and sat with them for a bit to catch up on what her son and his friends were doing, but had to attend to her customers after a while.

"So when do Jake and Peyton arrive?" Lucas asked, as a waitress took away their plates.

"Tomorrow," Haley said, relaxing back in her seat, "They tried to get on the same flight as you, but it was all booked. Have you seen a lot of them down there?"

"Yeah, quite a lot. The last couple of days I've been swamped with work before the holidays so I've barely spoken to anyone!"

"How is the happy family?" Brooke asked, "I spoke to Peyt last week but only for a minute, she sounded a little stressed."

Lucas hesitated, "They're…good. I think it's a little but of a strain with Jenny…but they're coping."

Brooke nodded slowly, "I'm sure they'll be fine. I guess it takes a little getting used to not having his parents around."

"Yeah, college is hard enough without having to look after a baby as well."

"Yeah right Hales! Like college is hard for you!" Brooke said, chuckling.

"It is! I still have to write papers and stuff. I find those…kinda hard."

"You can spin one off in half an hour," Nathan said, laughing at his wife's attempt to defend herself, "Don't even try and pretend like you're finding this hard. I on the other hand," he continued, "have to stay up all night just to get a few sentence out. I swear, what was I thinking choosing a History major?"

"At least you've chosen one," Brooke said despairingly.

"Brooke is that saga still going on!"

"Yes! How do you chose!"

Haley rolled her eyes, "We are not getting into this again. If you haven't decided by the end of this holiday I'm going to just get a list, shut my eyes, and point to one."

Lucas laughed, "Or you could just help her. Jeez, what's the point of leaving her in your care if you suck as an advisor?" he joked.

"Hey!" Brooke said, hitting him, "why do I have to be in anybody's care?"

"Because Brooke," Nathan began, as if he were talking to a five year old, "Your career advisor said you have 'very little direction.' And so you need people to guide you."

Brooke kicked him under the table. "I have direction…I just don't know which yet."

"And I am an excellent advisor Luke!" Haley declared, agitated by his earlier comment, "It's just it's very hard to advise someone when they change their mind every five seconds!" She gave Brooke a piercing look and Brooke shrugged, "It's not my fault."

"We'll sort it out," Lucas said with a chuckle, "Even if we have to resort to Haley's blind pointing idea!"

Later that evening Lucas and Brooke headed out of the café and began walking home. Brooke rubbed her arms as the cold air hit her, and shivered. Lucas instinctively wrapped an arm round her, and she nestled against him, sheltering from the wind.

They headed off down the street, walking in a comfortable silence. After a minute Brooke looked up to find Lucas' eyes on her.

"What?" she asked, with a light chuckle.

Lucas smiled. "I really missed you," he said.

Brooke tipped her head on one side and smiled back at him, "I missed you too Luke."

There was silence for a second, and then Lucas nodded, seemingly satisfied with this. Brooke looked forward again, a perplexed smile dancing across her lips for a second.

Lucas thought as they walked, his fingers comfortable against the soft cord of Brooke's jacket. It was strange, being with Brooke again. In some ways it seemed like they'd never been apart, and yet so much had happened in those three months that it also seemed as if it had been a lifetime.

It was also odd continuing as friends again. Although they had been friends during the summer, and through the term, he could tell that being with her again…but not being with her, was going to take a little getting used to.

They eventually arrived at his house and made their way up the path. Brooke was staying there that night as Peyton hadn't come home yet, and as much as she liked Larry Sawyer, it would be a little weird staying in his house when his own daughter wasn't even there yet.

Brooke had lived with Karen and Lucas for a while in high school, while her parents were living in California. It had worked pretty well, especially for them, as, after catching Brooke asleep in Lucas' bed in the morning a few too many times, she gave up on trying to keep them in separate rooms.

Brooke's parents had eventually moved back, and reluctantly, she had moved out. It would be nice to be back there, even if it was only for one night.

"So, do you want my room or the guest room?" Lucas asked as he opened the door, "Although I think my mom said something about that being a study now…"

"I can just sleep on the floor," Brooke said, "It's just for a night."

Lucas rolled his eyes, knowing there was no way Brooke was going to end up sleeping on the floor, and opened the door to his room.

He paused as he looked around. "Huh…well at least she didn't turn it into a home gym."

Brooke came up behind him and looked in. "I think those dinosaur fossils are yours," she said, noting the only part of the room which seemed to still belong to Lucas'.

At that moment they both heard the front door open and Karen came in. "Oh, your both back. Luke I meant to mention - "

"That you took over my room?" he said with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry honey, I really meant to leave it. But then after the spare room became a study I needed somewhere to put up nana and pop when they came, and your room seemed like the only option, so I had to redo it a little…and then I sort of got bitten by a decorating bug and redid it a lot…" She stood looking at him worriedly.

Lucas laughed, "Mom, it's fine! It looks great, and I'm sure my stuff is all around here somewhere…"

Karen smiled, "Good. Well at least it's got a double bed now. I guess I'll have to relax my rules a little since you two were last staying here," she smirked at them both.

"Mom, we're not…" Lucas gestured vaguely between him and Brooke in a lame attempt to convey exactly what the relationship between them was at the moment.

"Oh I know," she assured him, "But we don't have a spare room anymore so unless one of you wants to sleep on the floor that's the only option. You don't mind, do you? I mean, it's not like - "

"That's fine, Karen," Brooke said, smiling at her.

"Okay. Well…I'm off to bed. Christmas shopping starts tomorrow!"

Brooke's face lit up and Karen smiled, "I'm sure you and Haley might be able to escape from the boys to join me for a little while."

Lucas rolled his eyes but Brooke agreed enthusiastically. Karen said goodnight to them both and left them. They went into his room, dumping their bags on the floor and surveying the new surroundings.

Brooke went over to the bed and threw herself on it. "Huh, pretty bouncy. Good size. Nice counterpane. Nice work Karen!"

Lucas took of his shoes and lay down on the bed, folding his hands behind his head. "It is pretty comfy, and big."

"Better than your old one at least! That was barely big enough for…well, anything." She caught Lucas' eye and they both smirked, remembering the numerous times Brooke had complained, usually at highly inappropriate moments when it was the last thing on Lucas' mind, about the size of his bed.

"So, which side do you want?" Lucas asked. Brooke gave him a look and he shrugged, "Okay, stupid question," he conceded. He knew exactly which side she wanted, as she always took the same one.

He got up and went over to his bag, getting out some pyjama bottoms and a T-shirt. "I'll just…go change."

Brooke nodded once. "Right, okay."

He left and she flopped back onto the bed. So this was a little weird after all.

Brooke awoke in the morning to the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen. She opened her eyes slowly and pushed her hand down on the bed beneath it to lever herself up a little.

The bed seemed to be very hard however, and her action was met with a groan form the person next to her. Her eyes adjusted to the light and she realised that her hand had in fact been resting on Lucas' chest. "Woops…sorry."

She smiled guiltily and Lucas chuckled, "Good morning to you too." His voice was quiet and throaty, and it reminded her of other morning she had woken up like this.

Lucas looked down at them both; she was lying nestled next to him, curved against his body, with one of his arms wrapped round her.

"Were you cold?" he asked.

She met his eyes. "Not really."

They ate breakfast together before Brooke headed off shopping with Haley and Karen.

Lucas stopped Brooke as they were about to leave. "Now Brooke. I want my mom to come home with some money." Karen chuckled and headed out to the car, leaving them to it, "I'm not expecting a lot, just enough so that she'll be able to by food and pay the mortgage for the next couple of months, okay?"

Brooke rolled her eyes but Lucas continued, "So don't drag her into your little shopping world where you go completely overboard and end up buying a whole store."

Brooke hit him lightly on the arm but he didn't crack.

"Promise me, okay?"

"Yes, okay! I will not go overboard, or let your mom buy too much."

Lucas grinned, "Good. Alright, see you later then." He kissed her on the cheek and she left, shaking her head at him.

"So…pink, or black?" Haley asked, coming out of a changing room holding two wrap around sweaters.

Brooke tipped her head on one side and considered it.

"Haley James. We are here to do Christmas shopping, not clothes shopping!" Karen said, using her stern face, which Haley could see right through.

"It is Christmas shopping! I'm buying Dan's Christmas present to me."

Brooke looked at her, "…Why?"

"Because, I think I deserve a present form my father in law, and he's sure as hell not going to get me one!"

Brooke laughed. "I like that logic! Do you think I can buy myself presents from my parents then?"

"Don't they usually send you something?" Haley asked.

Brooke rolled her eyes, "Yeah, a ton of stuff, when they don't drag me off with them over Christmas. But I figure now I'm in college they'll assume their roles as parents are over and they don't need to continue the masquerade."

"Brooke, I'm sure they'll send you something. They're your parents, and, okay, they're not the greatest, but they still love you."

"That's debateable."

Haley gave her a look, "You know they do…but you might want to get yourself those gorgeous shoes over there just in case."

Brooke laughed and turned to see where she was pointing. The laughter died in her throat and turned into a moan, "Oh my god!" She ran over to the shoes and picked one up. "They're so beautiful!"

Karen shook her head; only Brooke got that excited about shoes.

Brooke turned the shoe over, admiring the sheer beauty of it, until her eyes fell in the price tag. "Pity they're not quite within a student budget." She sighed as she put them down, "Do you think they might have copies in K-mart?"

Haley laughed and shrugged, and Brooke went off to try and find a present for Peyton.

Karen looked at Haley as Brooke walked away. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Haley raised an eyebrow and reached for the shoes.

"Oh yeah."

The girls returned to the Lucas' house for a brief pit stop before they went to collect Peyton and Jake. Nathan and Lucas came out of the living room and laughed as they saw them come in with all their bags.

"What were my clear instructions Brooke!" Lucas exclaimed.

"I was really good!"

"I hate to see what you'd be coming home with if you'd been bad." He stood to one side as Karen piled the bags up in the hall. "Well, I'm going to start some wrapping, now I'm in such a festive mood. Are you kids going to the airport now?"

Haley checked her watch. "Yeah, we probably should. Have you got the car here Nate?"

"Yeah, it's right outside. Did you not see it?"

"Oh, my vision was a little obscured…by shopping bags…"

Nathan shook his head, "I hope you bought a lot of wrapping paper! And there'd better be something in there for me."

Haley raised an eyebrow, "There might be!"

They all headed out of the house and Nathan slid his hands round Haley waist as they walked. "Will you tell me what it is?" he asked, leaning over her shoulder and whispering in her ear.

"No!" Haley reached behind her and hit him on the back of the neck, and Nathan pouted.

"Do I still get a present this year?" Lucas asked Brooke, as they got into the back of the car.

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Okay, do I still get a big present?"

"You mean a boyfriend size present?" she asked, chuckling.

He gave an exaggerated shrug, "Seeing as you don't have to get one for anyone else…"

Brooke rolled her eyes, "We'll see."

Lucas grinned.

"Have you got me something?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

She narrowed her eyes, "That's such a lie! You haven't even been shopping yet."

"I got it in San Francisco."

"Really?" her tone was suspicious.

"Yes! It's awesome."

"Okay."

"Okay?" he asked, smiling.

"Uh huh. I believe you…I guess that means I'll have to get you something else besides the socks."

He gave her a shocked look and then laughed. "You'd better not have gotten me socks!"

Brooke shrugged. "They're very nice ones."

So that's it for now, as I said, I'll try my absolute best to get more up this weekend, but as always, reviews are the best motivator!

Also, in your reviews I need opinions about the adults. Who should Karen be with? (Keith/Andy…Dan?) Should Dan be redeemed? Just a little? Should he and Deb be together?