Thanks so much for the reviews! I was pleased everyone was worried about Carrie, this chapter will reveal all… (after a little BL friendship angst and fluff, of course)

Lucas left a little later that morning, after he and Brooke forced themselves to get up. After he'd gone Brooke collapsed back onto her bed, lacing her fingers behind her head and staring up at the ceiling. She was feeling pensive; maybe it was time to analyse those feelings she'd been so studiously ignoring for the past couple of days.

So…Lucas. She tried to work out what she wanted to happen with him, but her mind kept wandering off to reminiscing about things they'd done together; all the time she'd spent with him.

She sighed, okay she officially sucked at this brooding thing. Oh well, that was Lucas' forte right? She'd just do her thing: go with the flow and see where it took them.

She stood up cheerfully, and went over to her dresser to find some clothes. She was pulling out some jeans and a top when the door opened and Carrie came in, wearing a guy's basketball jersey over her bikini. She pulled it off as she went over to her bed, and threw it on a chair.

"Hey, are you okay?" Brooke asked. "I'm sorry I didn't say goodnight last night."

Carrie collapsed on the bed, pulling the covers over her vaguely.

"Carrie?"

She looked up and saw Brooke. "Hey!"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired. I'll talk to you later, kay?" her voice turned into a mumble as she turned her head into the pillow.

Brooke frowned lightly, but figured she'd just let her sleep.

"Hey man," Freddie greeted Lucas as he came back into his room.

"Hey," Lucas said, running a hand through his hair and yawning.

"Yeah I bet you're tired," Freddie said grinning, "So who'd you hook up with?" he asked, intrigued.

Lucas chuckled. "No one, I crashed in Brooke's room."

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "Right…"

Lucas silenced him with a look.

"Okay, I won't say anything." He held his hands up. "Anyway, Toby came looking for you this morning, he wants you to go play ball with him."

"Okay, cool. Well I'll see you later man."

"Yup. I'll let Brooke know where you've gone."

Lucas gave him a look.

"Well you know she'll 'drop by' at some point," Freddie said with a smirk.

Lucas just shook his head and left, chuckling.

Lucas lay on Brooke's bed, while she went round her room, trying to tidy some stuff. It was Sunday, and after Brooke had spent most of the previous day shopping with Molly, today she seemed to be into some kind of home improvement.

"I have to tell you something," he said suddenly.

She looked up from where she was stuffing clothes in to her bottom drawer. "What?"

"Come here," he indicated the bed next to him.

"I have to tidy."

"Since when do you ever tidy?" he asked, laughing a little.

"Since Carrie threatened to switch rooms!"

He caught her arm and pulled her over, "It can wait."

"Fine," Brooke sighed, settling on to the bed next to him, "But you're helping me later. So what's up?"

"I want to tell you something I probably should have told you before. But it's really not a big deal but it's something I just want you to know so…"

"What is it?"

Lucas took a breath, "Last year…me and Peyton, kind of had a thing for while."

Brooke paused. "As in…went out?"

"Not really…"

"As in, did it a few times."

"Um…yeah, something like that. We were both in kind of bad places and it didn't mean anything. We just…felt lonely and didn't really deal with it in the best way."

"Okay…what happened?"

"We realised it was stupid. It wasn't making either of us feel any better. Then she started making up with Jake and…well, you know how that turned out."

"And what about you?"

"I realised being with her didn't solve any problems, she wasn't who I wanted to be with."

Brooke nodded slowly, and chewed her lip.

"When was this?"

Lucas hesitated, "A little after Christmas."

Brooke gave another slow nod, "Right, I see…"

"Yeah…" Lucas trailed off, he was pretty sure Brooke could put two and two together.

"And I know I should have told you earlier, but it just seemed too hard to explain it over the phone, and it was for such a short time…"

"It's okay, I get it," she reassured him.

"I thought I'd just tell you the next time I saw you…I didn't know it would be so long." There was silence for a second, "Are you okay?"

She turned to face him, a small smile on her face, "Yeah…I'm okay."

"Okay."

She leant her head against his chest, and he kissed the top of it. They lay there for a few minutes, both thinking.

"So you're okay with this?" Carrie said. Brooke had just informed her of what Lucas had told her earlier.

Brooke shrugged. "Yeah…I guess. I mean, it's not like we were together at the time…in fact I'd basically just turned him down and called it quits, so it's not like he did anything wrong…"

"But…"

Brooke gave her a look. "What?" Carrie said, "There was so a but there."

She sighed. "I can understand why Lucas didn't tell me…I mean we barely saw each other after Christmas last year, and it was awkward enough already. But Peyton? She's my best friend. I mean, I was with her for a while this summer and she never brought it up."

"Well she probably knew you were already screwed up over Lucas, she just didn't want to make it worse. And you'd rather have heard it from him than her, right?"

Brooke hesitated. "Yeah…yeah you're right, I would."

Carrie slipped an arm round her. "You know he loves you, and he did then. You know why he did it…"

Brooke looked up at Carrie, and smiled just a little. "Yeah…"

Brooke twisted the phone in her fingers as she listened to it ring. Finally it picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey P.Sawyer."

"Brooke! Hey buddy, how's everything going?"

"Really good. You?"

"I'm good. So what's up?"

"Um…Lucas told me about what happened between you two…after Christmas."

There was silence for a second on the other end. "Okay. And you want me to reassure that he totally broke it off first and was and is still completely in love with you?"

Brooke hesitated and then chuckled. "Um…something like that. Without the totally exaggerated love part."

Peyton rolled her eyes and smiled into the phone. "Yeah, whatever you keep telling yourself. You know it's true." Her voice turned serious. "Brooke, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before, okay? It's just…it really was nothing. It meant nothing, it lasted, like, no time. Basically just until we came to our senses and realised how dumb we were and that we meant nothing to each other."

"It's okay Peyt, I get that it would be hard to tell me."

"I just didn't want to add more to confuse you. You were already kinda pissed at him for disappearing and I knew you'd want to hear it from him rather than me and - "

Brooke chuckled. "You and Carrie obviously have a lot in common. That's exactly what she said."

Peyton laughed. "Just know…it is nothing for you to worry about, or dwell on. I would hate it so much if our stupidity meant you had to suffer anymore…we already did that once."

Brooke nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I won't dwell on it."

Peyton smiled. "Thank you. Seriously thank you so much Brooke for understanding, and I'm so sorry we even had to have this conversation."

"You'd rather not have heard form me, huh?" Brooke chuckled.

"No! I've been dying to hear from you I miss you like hell Brooke. Actually, while we're talking…"

"Yay!" Brooke hung up the phone and flung her arms up in the air.

Carrie had just come into the room and gave her a look. "What?"

"Peyton and Jake are coming to stay!"

"Oh awesome, when?"

"Just before Thanksgiving. Oh I cannot wait to see her."

Carrie smiled. "That's great Brooke. So you talked to her about everything?"

"Yeah." Brooke smiled. "I think everything's cool."

"Good."

Brooke came into her room, and found Carrie lying on her bed, working. It was a few weeks later, and the semester was rumbling along.

"Hey," she said, looking up.

"Hey," she paused, "I just talked to Drake…and he was being really weird."

Brooke saw a look flit across Carrie's face, but she cleared it. "Weird how?" she asked, intrigued.

"He asked about Lucas, and…he was kind of cold," She hesitated again, thinking, "Do you think he thinks me and Lucas are going out?"

Carrie raised an eyebrow, "I could see where he was coming from if he did."

Brooke gave her a look, "Anyway it's not like I'm going out with him or anything," she waved it away and sat down at her desk, switching on her laptop.

Carrie thought for a minute, "He always kind of had a thing for you though. If so you could understand why he wouldn't like Lucas. I mean, you guys do spend a lot of time together."

Brooke looked over at her, "So? He's like, my best friend."

"Who you're still in love with."

Brooke rolled her eyes, "If you're going to start on that, I'm going to go take a shower."

Carrie laughed, and threw her her shampoo. "I see the way you look at him…" she started, but Brooke was already out the door.

Carrie shook her head, "God they're so blind," she muttered, before going back to her paper.

Brooke was sleeping off the effects of a late night out in her room, when Carrie came in, shutting the door quietly behind her. She went and sat down on her bed, resting her head back against the wall and closing her eyes.

Brooke woke up a little later and looked around. "Oh, hey. Did you get what you needed at the drugstore?"

"Er, yeah."

"What was it, run out of condoms?" she smirked.

Carrie bit her lip and Brooke's expression changed to one of worry. "Carrie? What is it?" She got out of bed and came over to her, sitting down on her bed, facing her friend.

Carrie opened her mouth and hesitated. "I was buying a pregnancy test…I'm late."

Brooke's mouth opened. "Oh Carrie…" She wrapped her arms round her shoulders, pulling her into a hug.

"How late?" she asked as she let her go.

"Um…a couple of weeks now. But it's usually like clockwork, down to the hour practically."

"Who…?"

"After the first game…the party…I slept with Drake."

Brooke closed her eyes. "Oh my god, Carrie."

"I was totally wasted, I can barely remember it - "

"I can't believe that jerk! Carrie I'm so sorry."

"I was so stupid…he hit on me earlier that night and I totally brushed him off…and then later I guess I just wasn't thinking straight."

"Oh god," Brooke remembered her own run in with Drake that night, "I told him to go find someone else…I didn't mean you!"

Carrie shrugged, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "It's my own fault, right? I shouldn't have drunk so much."

"It is not your fault! He should never have taken advantage of you, especially if you'd already said no that night."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter now…I can't change what happened."

Brooke looked towards the bag from the drugstore that was by Carrie's bed. "So you want to do it now? Get it over with?"

Carrie bit her lip, shaking her head, "I don't know if I can do this Brooke…"

Brooke moved round to sit next to her, wrapping an arm tightly round her shoulders. Carrie leant her head on her shoulder, tears now rolling down her cheeks.

"You know…I know how you're feeling," Brooke said quietly.

Carrie looked up, meeting her eyes. "Did you…?"

"Junior year. Right after me and Lucas broke up…after Peyton and everything."

"Oh my god, Brooke that must have been awful."

"I took a test, and it said I was pregnant. So Lucas took me to a clinic and they took a proper test." She shrugged. "It was just a false alarm."

"How did you feel?"

"Terrible. I was relieved but at the same time I just felt totally empty." She hesitated. "Lucas and I were arguing all the time then, and I didn't tell him at first that it was a false alarm. I was just so mad at him and I guess I wanted him to suffer like I had…he was so sweet though. He actually told me if I chose to have the baby he'd be there always…he'd be it's father…"

Brooke shook her head, and realised that tears were forming in her eyes too now.

"I guess a part of me thought when I wasn't pregnant I lost him too…any last chance to have him in my life."

She wiped her eyes.

"He's still here though," Carrie said.

Brooke looked down. "Yeah, he is. Stuff took a different turn to how I thought it would." She smiled. "And Carrie, you have people who care about you like that too, you know. Whatever Drake says…whatever this pregnancy test says…there's no way you're ever going to be alone."

Carrie nodded weakly. "Thanks Brooke."

"So you ready?"

"Yeah…okay."

Brooke leant against the sink in the bathroom, her eyes on the floor. Carrie stood next to her, biting her lip. Brooke checked her watch for the tenth time. She looked up at her friend. "It's time."

Carrie took a deep breath, and picked up the test, turning it over.

She looked at it and then closed her eyes and let out a breath, holding it out to Brooke. Brooke nodded and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay," she said and she rubbed her back. "It's over…just a false alarm."

Lucas was sitting playing a video game in Toby's room when the door opened and Carrie stuck her head round the door.

"Oh…hey Lucas. Um, is Toby here?"

"He just went out to get some food," he said looking up. "He'll be back in about half an hour. Hey, are you okay?" He paused the game and stood up, noticing her red eyes.

"Um…yeah I guess. Just had, a bit of a stressful day."

Lucas gave her a comforting smile, reaching out and rubbing her arm. "Anything I can do? What happened?"

Carrie hesitated and then came into the room, closing the door behind her. "I um…thought I was pregnant. But I'm not."

Lucas' eyes widened, and then he nodded slowly. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "Dodged a bullet though, right?"

"I bet it doesn't feel like that right now though."

She looked up at him, and he met her eye.

"Did Brooke tell you…about us?"

Carrie nodded. "Yeah, just earlier."

"I know how it feels," Lucas said, "When you find out it was all just nothing…it doesn't feel like you'd imagine, huh?"

Carrie shook her head, and then hesitated. "So you weren't…relieved…when Brooke told you?"

"In some ways. I mean, we were both way too young, and it killed my mom when she found out, obviously it was what was best…especially with where we were just then…but still…I guess it just got to me, you know?"

Carrie nodded. "You'd already started to picture your life like that, and then it all suddenly disappears."

Lucas smiled. "Yeah. I mean, a baby in high school isn't exactly the dream, but just thinking about it…it's still a baby. And I talked to my friend Jake about it, you know, who has Jenny. And I guess it was just while I was talking to him that I suddenly thought, I'm gonna have this…I'm gonna have a child."

Lucas shrugged. "And then suddenly I found out it was all just a scare. And it was gone and Brooke was gone and everything was back to how it was before."

"Did you love her then?" Carrie asked quietly.

Lucas looked down. "I don't know…I think so, but I doubt I knew it. Maybe I just like to think I did, now."

"You love her now though."

He looked up and met her eyes. "Yeah…yeah I do."

"No big secret though," she smiled. "She loves you too."

Lucas smiled. "I know," he said quietly.

Carrie continued to smile. "Nothing like your friends' love lives to make you forget your own problems, huh?"

"It's probably best to just forget about it," Lucas said. "I know it's hard, but that's the best way to get past it."

She nodded. "Yeah. I don't think I want to remember this. It's not really like with you and Brooke…I had no illusions that this would make a happy family. The guy I slept with…well, it doesn't matter. But like you said, it's still a baby."

Lucas nodded. "Well some day when we're all older we can have them then. Who knows, maybe you and Toby can have a few?" He chuckled as she swatted at him.

"He'll me back any minute now, I'll leave you to talk to him. I bet he's pretty good at the whole comforting thing."

Carrie smiled. "Thanks Lucas."

Lucas pulled her into a hug. "No problem."

Lucas was sitting in the library reading a book for his class when someone sat down next to him. He looked over to see Brooke smiling at him.

"So a little birdie tells me you were pretty amazing at making her feel better yesterday."

Lucas smiled bashfully and shrugged.

Brooke sighed, smiling at him sincerely. "Thanks Luke…it really means a lot to me that you helped her, and I know it meant a lot to Carrie too."

Lucas smiled. "It was no problem."

Brooke met his eyes. "What do you think it would have been like?" she asked quietly. "If…"

"I think you would have been a great mom."

Brooke smiled and then chuckled. "Well I don't know about that."

"Yes you would. You would've been great…you will be one day."

"You don't think my kid will be a total train wreck? I mean, I haven't exactly had the best examples, except for when I lived with Karen of course."

"You'd figure it out. They might be a little spoilt," he chuckled, "and you know their taste in music will be very questionable." Brooke hit him on the arm and he grinned. "But they'll turn out okay."

Brooke smiled and leant her head against his shoulder. "Well you can take care of the music," she murmured, and she felt Lucas kiss the top of her head. "So, what are you reading?" she asked.

"Well…"

Please review! I know the whole thing with Carrie wasn't very centred on BL, but I wanted them to revisit some of their past (especially since I've just been watching s1!). I hope you liked it anyway.

There was some stuff vaguely brushed over in this chapter that'll be focused on later. Just dropping little issues and hints in for now I guess.