Author's note: Sorry for the delay in new chapters. I was having a really hard time figuring out what to do with this story. I decided that I am going to use things that happened in the show because they obviously would have been different situations since Brooke and Lucas are not back together. I am going to try and keep with the time sequence of the show, the order that things happened. I will only pull from the show things that I want to use, so I won't be rewriting the show with my own ideas, just grabbing things from it. So, now, the drama unfolds. Enjoy!

Chapter 7- Secrets

Brooke strolled up to Lucas' locker after school. It had been another long and boring day of classes for Brooke. She hated school, it was so pointless. The worst part, now that her parents were broke she really needed to start paying attention and getting better grades so that she could get into college without her parents money to pay her way in.

"Hey there boyfriend." Brooke gave her usual greeting when she walked up behind Lucas.

"Hey there yourself." Lucas smiled and leaned down to kiss Brooke. "How was your day?"

"Terrible and boring, as most school days are. But now all of that terribleness is done for the day, so let's go and do something fun, what do you say?"

"Unfortunately I have to say no, I am kind of grounded." Lucas gave Brooke a tight lipped smiled.

"Grounded for what? As far as I can tell you have been on your best behavior lately." Brooke winked at him.

"Just a little fight I am having with my mother, it is no big deal, I won't be grounded for too long. I promise, my first night as a free man goes all to you." Lucas knew that he should tell Brooke exactly what they were fighting about, but things were going so well, he didn't want to ruin it.

"Well, in that case, I just might go and see what my favorite Tutorwife is up to this afternoon. We haven't hung out in while." Brooke leaned towards Lucas and started to kiss him, the passion started to grow between the two and Lucas pulled away, a little embarrassed that there were tons of people walking past them. Brooke caught on to this, "No big deal, I'll kiss you later." Brooke started to walk away, she looked back over her shoulder, "Bye boyfriend."

Lucas wondered how Brooke did it. How she always managed to be sexy. She could turn two simple words like 'bye boyfriend' into something amazingly sexy. That girl certainly had some talent. Lucas glanced down at his watch and realized he had better hurry up and get home, the last thing he wanted to do was make his mother even angrier.

ooooOoooo

"Brooke, hey, this is a surprise." Haley exclaimed as she opened the door, she hadn't been expecting Brooke.

"Yeah well Lucas couldn't do anything so I figured I would stop by and see what you were up to." Brooke pushed past Haley and took a seat on the couch.

"I see how it is, Lucas is busy so I am your last resort?" Haley teased as she walked towards the fridge, "Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm fine. So let's do something fun, this whole Lucas being grounded right after we got together thing is driving me nuts. We have do something to get my mind off of it." Brooke was pretty disappointed, she had been looking forward to making up for lost time with Lucas.

"Yeah well you might want to get used to is, Karen is pretty upset about Lucas not telling her about the HCM thing. I was there when she stormed into his room, and trust me, there were flames shooting out of her ears. I mean obviously she has reason to be upset, he didn't tell her that he might have something that could kill him." Haley remembered the scene in Lucas' bedroom, she had seen Karen get mad at Lucas and yell at him quite a few times through the years, but this was a whole new level of mad.

"Wait, hold on there one minute, what HC whatever thing? It could kill him, what are you talking about Haley?" Brooke's eyes had gotten really wide, apparently there was already something that Lucas was keeping from Brooke.

"Oh, I figured he told you why he was grounded. He is going to kill me for telling you." Haley was biting her lip, it was clear that she knew she had let something pretty big slip.

"Oh trust me, he won't kill you because I am going to kill him first. Sorry Tutorwife, we are going to have to hang out some other time, I have some yelling to go and do." With that Brooke stormed out of the apartment. Haley went to the window and watched Brooke pull of out the parking lot and speed away. She knew that there would be a very unhappy phone call from Lucas coming soon.

ooooOoooo

Lucas was sitting on his bed lost in his book when he thought her heard a car door slam outside. Thinking nothing of it he continued on with his reading. Second later the door to his room flew open and in walked a very unhappy Brooke.

"You want to hear about my afternoon? I know you do so I'll tell you. I am over at Haley's and she is telling me about how you are grounded because you have MCH or some crap like that, and apparently it can kill you. And it seems that that has something to do with the reason your mother grounded you, and oh yeah, it also seems as though you have been keeping something really important from me." Brooke just stood there, with her arms crossed in front of her, staring at Lucas waiting for a response.

"Okay, let me just tell you my side of the story. Why don't you sit down?" Lucas motioned to the spot besides him on the bed.

"Haven't you learned by now that when I am pissed off like this it really isn't a good time to tell me what to do? I absolutely will not sit down! I want to stand and I want you to start explaining." Brooke tapped her foot as to urge Lucas on.

"Fine. Okay, I'll go from the beginning. When Dan had his heart attack they diagnosed him with having a disease called HCM. It is a heart condition and it is genetic. Nathan found out about this, and that the chances of us having it was like 50/50. So he planned that trip to Charlotte to see the Bobcats play, and then the next morning we were going to go and get heart tests done to see if we had it, it was this free screening for athletes." Lucas paused and looked towards Brooke.

"I am not getting what makes your mom quite so mad yet so keep going." Brooke's anger seemed to subside a little as she sat down next to Lucas on the bed, she looked at him, "I am sitting because I want to, not because you told me to, just to clear up any confusion."

"Well I didn't get the test and I didn't tell my mom about Dan having HCM and it being hereditary and me not taking the test. Nathan told my mom about it because he thought that I should have taken the test."

"Why didn't you take it?" The anger had been erased from Brooke's face and been replaced with a look of sheer concern for her boyfriend.

"I don't want to know Brooke. When I had my accident I swore that I was going to live every day to the fullest. If I have HCM and that numbers my days, I don't want to know, I just want to keep on living as long as I can and enjoy each and everyday. Is that so hard to understand?" Lucas looked towards Brooke, "Really, do you get that?"

"Of course I understand that. But this HCM, is there a cure for it?"

"It can be controlled, but it could mean the end of basketball for me, and basketball is too important to me. Without basketball I wouldn't be living my life to the fullest." Lucas knew that this wasn't going to go over well.

"So you are saying that you would rather run around throwing a ball into a hoop and risk dying than quitting basketball and knowing that that prolongs your life, the life that you can spend with people like, oh I don't know, your mother, your brother, me?"

"This is an easy choice for me Brooke. I just don't want to know. I am not saying that that makes any of you less important to me, I am just saying that I don't want to know. I don't want to know that I have it and have that put a damper on my life, I just can't let that happen."

"Wow, that is pretty selfish. I can see why your mom grounded you. God Lucas, don't you get it? We only care about you, you have to know, you have to take that test." Brooke pleaded with Lucas.

"I don't want to and I won't. That's the end of it." Lucas looked towards Brooke, expecting another outburst.

"Fine, then listen clearly to what I am about to say, I don't want you to get confused or anything." Brooke walked towards the door and opened it, "You don't want to take the test? Then I don't want to be your girlfriend. Seriously, take the test, until then, we are done." With that Brooke walked out, slamming the door behind her.