Okay I'm so sorry I haven't updated for a little while, but we had family here and they kind of took over my room (sucks being the youngest) and so it was really hard to find a place to right! And then I got hooked on Lost and came very close to having a new top couple, but then I watched some OTH and snapped out of that little craziness.

Thanks to all the reviewers, especially Ada whose gentle reminder that it had been a while since I updated made me get my butt into gear! So here it is: the penultimate chapter, enjoy!

"You wanna watch some TV?" Brooke asked, as she lay on Lucas' bed flipping through a magazine.

Lucas looked round from his desk. "Yeah, find something to watch I've just gotta read this through."

Brooke nodded and flicked on the TV. "Take your time, that could take a while." She started switching through the channels. "God I swear TV gets worse every day. If I see one more reality TV show…ooh America's Next Top Model!"

Lucas chuckled and rolled his eyes at her hypocrisy.

"Oh damn, I've seen this one…Oh cool, Luke, 'St. Elmo's Fire' is on."

"You've seen it almost as many times as 'Pretty in Pink'."

"Well that's because it's almost as good. God he's hot," she added, "It's such a shame they all have such bad clothes."

Lucas turned round to the screen, frowning at the guy. Brooke looked up and smirked. "I didn't say hotter than you, just hot. Like…Nathan's hot," she said with a shrug, "But not hotter than you."

"That's the second time in two weeks you've said Nathan's hot," Lucas said, narrowing his eyes.

Brooke chuckled. "Yeah you'd better watch out Broody, that's quite a threat to our relationship."

Lucas rolled his eyes and threw a stuffed basketball at her.

"Hey!"

He grinned at her and she shook her head, turning back to the TV. "Ugh, I know this movie too well. You wanna make out instead?"

Lucas looked down at his half-checked paper, and shrugged. "Yeah alright."

"I was kidding, finish your essay."

"I hate it when you do that."

She smirked at him and flicked off the TV, coming to stand behind him to read over his shoulder. "What's it about?"

"You really wanna know?"

She hesitated and then laughed. "No."

"That's what I thought." He continued reading and she rested her chin on his head, and started massaging his shoulders. He gave a little moan of pleasure and she smiled.

He finished checking it through and dropped the pages on the desk, turning his head to catch her lips in a kiss. He reached a hand behind him to cup her cheek and twisted round in his chair.

"You should really…get a…damn swivel chair Broody," Brooke mumbled in between kissing him, and he pulled her round and into his lap, not breaking the kiss.

She shifted so she was straddling him, and he held her waist and pulled her closer. "Much better," he murmured, and she smiled against his lips.

The door suddenly opened and Freddie came in and greeted them briefly.

They broke the kiss and Brooke looked up over the top of Lucas' head. "Freddie, the whole beauty of us having three rooms between three couples is that we can have a little privacy."

"Well Dave has a class."

"So?"

"So I want to relax in the comfort of my room."

Brooke groaned and dropped her head against Lucas' shoulder.

"You guys can carry on I'm comfortable with heterosexual making out."

Brooke chuckled. "Good for you. Unfortunately I'm not comfortable going at it in front of an audience, so…" she climbed off Lucas' lap and he shot Freddie a glare. Brooke rolled her eyes and caught his hand, pulling him over to the bed with her.

"We could probably still catch the end of that movie."

Lucas groaned as he lay down next to her, and Freddie shook his head in mock sympathy. "Tough break man."

Something outside suddenly caught his eye and he went over to the window. "Oh hey it's snowing."

Brooke leapt up off the bed and looked over his shoulder. "Oh my god you're right! Yay!"

Freddie turned to Lucas, looking confused. "Do you not get snow in North Carolina?"

"No, we do. Brooke just gets really over-excited about anything vaguely Christmassy."

Freddie nodded as Brooke rolled her eyes at Lucas. He chuckled and caught her hand, pulling her back over to the bed.

She came, clapping her hands at the same time. "Okay now I totally have to get those boots I saw in Barney's."

Lucas groaned. "And snow means an excuse for a whole lot more shopping," he said to Freddie.

Freddie however seemed to be on Brooke's side on this one. "Can I come with? I've been trying to persuade Dave to come scarf shopping with me for weeks but he doesn't seem interested."

"Ooh totally! I understand, having a boyfriend who doesn't recognize the importance of retail therapy sucks, doesn't it?" she said, throwing Lucas a dirty look over her shoulder.

"Okay, I'm going to leave you two girls to discuss that, I have a class," Lucas said, squeezing Brooke's knee as he stood up.

"Luke!" Brooke called indignantly as he headed for the door. He turned round and she raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry babe," he came back over and she smiled as he leaned down and kissed her. "I'll meet you for lunch later?"

She nodded, and he headed out.

"Nice work," Freddie said once he was gone, nodding approvingly.

Brooke shrugged. "You gotta let 'em know who's in charge."

"So what's up with you guys?" Haley asked as she came over to their table with a cup of coffee. The four of them were in a coffee shop near Brooke and Lucas' dorms, because they had complained that they always had to trek over to Princeton rather than the other way round.

"Not much…I got new boots!" Brooke said excitedly, sticking one foot in the air.

"Ooh nice, Barney's sale?"

"Aw Hales! Yes; I'm so proud of you!"

Haley rolled her eyes. "How about you Luke, any new purchases we should know about?"

"No," he said chuckling, as Brooke made a face. "But actually, I've acquired some mysterious new things."

"Oh really? How?"

"My grandma called the other day and she said she was just sorting through some old stuff of her father's, and she found some things that apparently he'd wanted me to have," Lucas said, shrugging.

"Aw, that's so cool! I don't think we have any family heirlooms…" Haley said, thinking. "Actually I'm sure my Dad has stacks of stuff stored away that he wants passed down the family line, but it's probably all junk!"

"Didn't your mom try to give us those baby blankets when we first told them we were getting married?" Nathan asked, "Cause she wouldn't believe you weren't pregnant."

They all laughed and Haley nodded. "Yup, well I guess they have those stored away somewhere."

"For the future tutorbabies," Brooke said, grinning.

"Please don't tell me you're going to call them that!"

"Of course! Now that you're Tutorwife there's room for another Tutorgirl!"

Nathan and Haley groaned.

"So what kind of things do you think they are?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know, probably, you know, manly things he'd think I'd need," Lucas said, chuckling.

"Cool," Brooke said, "Like…pipes and stuff?"

"Pipes?"

"Like, for smoking, not playing."

"Well, yeah."

"I just always think of grandparents with pipes," Brooke said shrugging.

Lucas laughed and nodded. "Okay Cheery! I don't know what I'd do with a pipe, but…"

"Well he probably thought you'd like to smoke one."

Lucas gave her an odd look.

"I'm serious! This is your great-grandfather we're talking about, so he lived, like, before smoking was bad."

Lucas just shook his head, laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know," he said honestly.

"God I hate to think what kind of stuff Royal would pass down to me," Nathan said. "Probably years worth of trophies he'd want me to display in some kind of museum to him and Dan."

Lucas laughed and Nathan turned to him. "He'd probably give some to you too Luke, the 'Scott Family Hall of Achievements'…I can see it now."

Lucas shook his head. "No way, I'm not being part of that!"

"He's pretty keen on you, do you not remember the grilling he gave us both last year at Christmas about our college teams?"

"Oh my god, yeah…he's not going to be happy when he hears I left Stanford for NYU is he?"

Nathan narrowed his eyes, pretending to think. "Well I don't know, it's not like NYU is the worst sporting school in the country…"

"Shut up! We win games…occasionally."

"Yeah thanks to you. And you know he'll want to hear every detail of this Junior Knicks programme."

Lucas groaned and Brooke rubbed his knee consolingly.

"How about you Brooke?" Nathan asked, turning to her. "Do you reckon your mother will bequeath you with an ancient cocktail shaker or something one day?"

Brooke laughed. "I don't think my family is big on the whole heirloom thing; it would kind of involve admitting to the fact we're a family."

"What about your grandmother?" Haley asked quietly, "Did she leave you anything?"

"Money," Brooke said, shrugging and looking down. "I don't really know what happened to all her stuff. I guess Dad has it."

Lucas wrapped the arm that was on her shoulders around her a little tighter. He kissed her head and she smiled up at him reassuringly.

"Well Luke I'm intrigued," Nathan said, breaking the small silence, "I hope this stuff is interesting."

"Yeah," Haley agreed, "I wanna go bully my parents into finding me some cool old stuff now, although they've probably already shared it all out to the others," she added, referring to all her siblings.

Brooke chuckled as she lifted her legs onto the little couch she and Lucas were sharing, and leaned back against him.

"You tired babe?" he asked, running a hand down her arm.

She nodded and closed her eyes.

"I wonder why…" Haley said, smirking.

"I was writing a paper," Brooke said pointedly, opening one eye.

"She really was," Lucas added.

Nathan chuckled. "I believe you man, you still sound pissed off."

"Well that's cause someone promised they were going to get it done and - "

"Nate! You started him off," Brooke wailed.

Lucas rolled his eyes and shut up, slipping a hand round Brooke's waist and under her top.

"That tickles," she murmured.

"Well that'll teach you not to procrastinate."

She giggled and grabbed his hand, but he stopped her. "Okay okay, I'll stop."

"Good." She allowed his hand to remain there and he stroked her midriff with his thumb as Nathan started talking about their plans for Christmas.

"Hey Broody," Brooke said, coming into his room and flopping down on his bed next to him.

"Hey. Um, I just got off the phone and I have some good news, and some bad news," Lucas said, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Brooke. "Which do you want first?"

She tipped her head on one side and thought for a minute. "The good news, and then after the bad news you can kiss me to make me feel better. Unless you're telling me you cheated, in which case you're not getting any lovin' for a long time."

Lucas chuckled. "Well it's a good thing it's not that. Okay, good news is that my mom's invited you to come and stay for Christmas."

"Oh yay! Is she gonna let us share a room?" Brooke asked, thinking of Karen's strict rules while the two of them were in high school.

"I'm working on it. But the bad news, is that I have to stay in New York for a bit because of training, so I won't be able to make it to Tree Hill until…Christmas Eve."

Brooke's face fell. "Christmas Eve? Luke no!"

"I know, I'm so sorry. I know this is your favourite time of year and I really want to spend it with you but I have to do the training."

"Well then I'll stay too. I can hang out in the city for a week and then we can go down together."

"No Brooke that's not fair on you. You should be with Peyton and everyone at home. Anyway I'll hardly have any free time so it wouldn't be worth it."

Brooke stuck out her bottom lip and lay down next to Lucas. "This sucks."

He kissed the top of her head. "I know, I'm so sorry babe."

"It's okay," she muttered, "I guess it's my fault for dating a basketball star."

Lucas chuckled. "Yeah, it's totally your fault."

She hit him, but even her punch seemed to have lost its usual energy. She sighed and buried her head in his shoulder.

"Do you want to come a get some hot chocolate with me?" Lucas asked gently after a minute.

"Okay," she mumbled, standing up. "Seeing as how we won't be able to do that at your mom's café like we used to, and go on a little walk in the snow, and - "

"Brooke," he cut her off, taking her hands. "I'm really sorry. I hate this as much as you do." He tipped her chin up and she sighed, unable to stop a half smile.

"I know. C'mere." She wrapped her arms round his neck and kissed him softly. As she pulled back she smiled. "You're buying."

"Brooke it's only a week," Nathan said consolingly, as they all made their way into the airport.

"Nate! It's the run up to Christmas! This is like my favourite time of the year and Luke's not going to be there. How would you feel if Haley wasn't there for…basketball play-offs?"

Nathan chuckled and wrapped an arm round Brooke's shoulders. "Okay, good point."

They checked in and then Lucas took Brooke's hand, pulling her towards him. "I'm gonna miss you," he said, wrapping his arms round her.

She nodded against his chest, and he pulled back, tipping up her chin. "You'll have lots of fun, Nathan and Hales will take care of you."

"What about sex?" Brooke asked, pouting a little.

Lucas chuckled. "Do you think you can hold out for a week?"

Brooke heaved a theatrical sigh. "I can try."

He grinned again and cupped her cheek, kissing her gently. She kept her face near his as they broke apart, their noses brushing. "I love you."

"Love you too."

She smiled sadly and pulled back, standing at his side as he said goodbye to Nathan and Haley. Then he kissed her head and gently pushed her after them, smiling at her as she looked over her shoulder, before she linked arms with Haley as they made their way to security.

Lucas dug his hands in his pockets and turned, making his way out of the airport with a sigh.

Okay so that chapter was kind of filler, but really there's not a lot left to happen in this story and I didn't want to force some random drama that would be over way to quickly. So we're left with this, and I really like this kind of stuff so I hope you do guys do too! I promise the last chapter is gonna be first class fluff though, with possibly some actual things happening too…

Please review; It's almost your last chance!