Chapter 17- The Ties That Bind Us

Nathan tried to stay awake as he drove home from practice. Practice today had been extra hard and extra long. Not expecting this, he had gone for a ten mile run in the morning before heading to practice. There was no doubt about it, Nathan was exhausted. The only thing that kept him awake on the drive home was the thought that it was finally Friday and Brooke would be there waiting for him.

Finally pulling into the driveway he was relieved to see her car sitting there. As he approached his house he could see that Brooke had lit some candles. Opening the door he could smell dinner cooking and realized just how hungry he was. "Hey boyfriend." Brooke walked out into the front hall and leaned in to kiss him. "A little sweaty are we?" Brooke teased him.

"Yeah, practice today was crazy long and hard. I thought it would never end."

"Aw, babe. Sounds like a rough day. Well, I have been slaving over a hot stove for hours preparing you a nice dinner. It should be done in about 15 minutes so why don't you go and take a hot shower. When you are out we can eat." Brooke knew that since basketball season was now in full swing, the days that Nathan wasn't playing a game or traveling he had long, exhausting practices. She wanted to be there whenever she could to help him relax.

While showering Nathan thought about the weekend ahead of them. He had a game tomorrow in New York City, Brooke would be going with him. They were catching a flight out early the next morning. Nathan had an early afternoon game which Brooke would come and watch and then they could enjoy the rest of the weekend together until they had to catch a plane back to Florida Sunday afternoon. Brooke had been incredible, she went to every game that she possibly could. It was always tough during the week because she worked, but almost every weekend she was there cheering him on, no matter where the game was.

Brooke had felt guilty at first about letting Nathan pay for all of her plane tickets to his games. It took him a little while to make her realize that he wasn't doing it just for her, it was for him too. Having her there cheering for him always made him play better. Even when he couldn't see her there, he could feel that she was there. It was rare though that he couldn't see her, the friends and family of the team usually got pretty awesome seats. She seemed to deal with the guilt and had adjusted quite well to the life as an NBA stars girlfriend.

An NBA star was definitely what he had become. Nathan was on of the top scorers on his team. He had won the admiration and respect of his entire team by putting in endless hours at the gym or running with the team whenever possible. He had also made sure to accept invitations from his teammates whenever possible, whether it be to dinner after practice, to a party, or to just grab a drink and hang out. Nathan had been determined to prove to the team that he not only deserved to be there, but also that he wanted to be there. He had definitely succeeded at this.

Walking into the kitchen Nathan stared in shock at the table, "Wow, you really did go all out."

"Well, it started with just steaks, but then I decided that I was craving baked potatoes. Then I remembered that you loved corn on the cob. Then I figured that a nice Caesar salad would top it all off. I hope you are hungry." Brooke was so cute when she rambled on and on.

"Yes, I am starving." Nathan pulled out a chair to sit down at one of the places Brooke had set, she followed. He cut into his steak and took a huge bite, "Wow, this is incredible."

"Yeah, that grill of yours out back really gets the job done." Brooke was pretty impressed, as she and Nathan had been having their weekend visits she had picked up quite a few cooking skills. "It was my first time grilling, I fought with the grill for a while before I realized the problem was that you were out of gas."

"Yep. I had some of the guys on the team over last week for a cook out. I realized it was gone then and hadn't had a chance to get more." Nathan could just imagine Brooke messing with the grill, it was just the cutest thought.

"No biggie, I went and got some more. So, rough week?" Brooke gave Nathan a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, things have been crazy lately. What about you, how was your week?"

"Not that bad actually, busy, but not too busy. Our special holiday line hit the shelves last week, so since then things have settled down. I haven't had to put it any more of those crazy 12 hour days."

"That's good. Are you looking forward to this weekend?" Nathan thought about their little getaway this weekend, he couldn't wait to tour New York City with Brooke on his arm.

"Yeah, I can't wait. I hope to get a little bit of my Christmas shopping started." A huge grin grew on Brooke's face, "I absolutely love the holidays Nathan, I am so excited to get to spend them with you."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that. I just found out that I have five days off for Thanksgiving, starting with the day before and going through that weekend." Nathan knew that what he was about to say could go really badly.

"That's good, I am sure I can get the day before off too. Did you have anything in mind that you wanted to do? Spend Thanksgiving with your mom or anything?" Brooke could see that there was something on Nathan's mind.

"Actually, I was considering going to Tree Hill for Thanksgiving."

Brooke looked surprised, "But why? Your mom is here."

"Yeah, I know, but I haven't seen my grandparents in forever and they are going to be in Tree Hill to see my father for Thanksgiving. I figured this way I could spend some time with them. And…I want to spend some time with Lucas, I haven't seen him since spring break last year, he will be in Tree Hill for his Thanksgiving break." Nathan didn't even try to say more, he knew that the mere mention of Lucas' name would illicit a reaction from Brooke.

Brooke looked thoughtful for a moment and then took a deep breathe and exhaled, "I knew that this would happen at some point. He is your brother, it was obvious that you would see him at some point. Does he know about us?"

"Yeah, I told him about a month after we started dating." Nathan knew that being up front with his brother about everything was the only way to handle the situation.

"And how did he react? Did he even care?"

"Of course he cared. He could tell how happy I was though, so he said that he was fine with it, he wouldn't let it be weird, us being brothers and all and having both dated you. Since then he has regularly asked how things were going with us. He is actually really supportive. All he wants for both of us is happiness." Nathan wasn't quite sure what the look on Brooke's face meant.

"Well, then I say that I will come with you to Tree Hill, if you want me to that is."

"I most definitely do. I want us to spend our first Thanksgiving together." Nathan was relieved that Brooke reacted so well to this.

"Then it is settled, we will spend Thanksgiving in Tree Hill." Brooke's face lit up, "I have to call Peyton, she will be so excited."

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe we could do Thanksgiving dinner with Jake and Peyton. I know that my grandparents will have Thanksgiving dinner with my dad, and that is something I definitely don't want to do."

"Oh, I am so excited, I will call her right after dinner about it. This will be great. The past stuff with me and Lucas, well we can deal with that as we need to. Aw, our first holiday, I can't wait." Broke was already thinking about spending time with her best friend, she hadn't gotten to see her since Peyton came to Florida months ago.

"I can't wait either. It will be perfect." He leaned over and kissed Brooke, she returned his kiss with urgency.

"What do you say to some dessert boyfriend?"