Chapter 12

Brooke and Lisa stared at each other sizing the other one up. Brooke could not believe she was finally meeting the infamous Lisa. From what she had gathered Lucas was the only one in the family impressed with her. Karen had always thought she was a flake and that was proven when she walked out. Nathan felt she was a gold digger and that had been proven when the divorce settlement was decided. Dan never thought any one was good enough for his son's and had tried to buy her off before she and Lucas had married.

Lisa looked at Brooke. She was holding her baby and didn't look like she was letting go of her any time soon. She had no idea what this woman was to Lucas and prayed they weren't involved. Lisa held out her arms. "Hi Francis. Remember me, its mommy. Come to mommy." She moved closer to Brooke and Francis buried her face in Brooke's shoulder.

"She doesn't want to see you. And frankly, I doubt Lucas does either. So if you could do us all a favor and please leave."

"Sorry sweetheart, that won't be happening anytime soon. See, I need a place to stay and this is my house and that's my baby you're holding. I'll leave but I'm not going without her." Brooke laughed in her face.

"You have got to be kidding me. Do you think for a second I'm just going to hand over Francis to you? For all I know you'll take her and leave her in a box somewhere. If you want to see her you can talk to Lucas when he gets back." Lisa grinned; Lucas being gone would work to her advantage.

"Well it looks like I'm staying then. Be a dear and make me a sandwich or something." Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Get out of the house now. I'll call the police if you don't leave."

"Right, like they're going to do anything when I tell them this is my house and that's my baby."

"Are you delusional? You and Lucas are divorced; you have no right in this house. And for all I know you have no parental rights of Francis."

"That may be, but here in Texas they always side with the birth mother, not some skanky whore playing mommy." Brooke handed Francis to Nancy and got up in Lisa's face.

"If you're not out of that door in 30 seconds I will go up to my room and get my .45. Sweetheart, I have deadly aim and I will not hesitate to shoot. Nancy will back up whatever I say. Now get out of my house."

"Ooh, you're a feisty one. I'll leave, but not because I'm scared. Tell Lucas I'll be back and this time I won't leave without my baby." With that Lisa picked up her purse and walked out the door. Brooke let out the breath she held.

"Brooke are you okay?" Nancy asked as she handed the baby back to her.

"I'm fine. I'm going to call Luke and see what he thinks we should do." Brooke picked up the phone and dialed Luke's cell. "Come on, pick up." There was no answer and she hung up. "Nancy, will you go pack a bag for Jason with about five days worth of clothes. I'm going to go pack for Francis and me. I don't want the kids anywhere near that psycho. Looks like we're going to California."

"Thanks for picking us up Hales." Brooke told Haley as they drove back from the airport.

"Oh it's no problem. You should have seen the look on Luke's face when I told him what was going down."

"I believe it. That lady was psycho. I don't trust her for a second." Brooke hadn't been able to get a hold of Luke, but Haley had. Brooke and Luke had been exchanging calls all day but never actually speaking to one another. At the current moment, all Brooke knew was that Luke was going to get the locks changed, the code on the gate changed, and had called his lawyer to see what his legal options were.

"Well I'm glad you three came, it'll be fun to have all of you here."

"Yeah you should have seen Jason when I went to get him from school. I haven't told them why we really came, just that we're going to see Lucas because it's a three-day weekend from school. Question for you though, why are you so smiley and why are you driving Nathan's car?"

Haley just grinned back at her friend. "Well, you know how I went with Nathan to the game in Utah? Well we also decided to make a quick trip to Vegas." Brooke looked at her friend not believing what she was hearing.

"No."

"Yes."

"No. You did not. Haley James, if you even say what I think you're going to say I swear I will stop this car right now."

"You're not driving genius. And yes, we got married." Brooke stared at Haley in shock. "Well say something."

"I can't, you've left me totally speechless. I think this is the most surprising thing I have ever heard. You and Nathan got married? You who have never had a real boyfriend before and Nathan the biggest flirt known to man. What is this world coming to? Who else knows?"

"You're the first one. It was only two days ago. We haven't even told Luke yet."

"I cannot believe this. I really can't. I guess that's why you're driving his car, oh wait, my bad, your car now."

"No, this is still his. He bought me a brand new Mercedes today."

"Whatever, I don't need to hear this." Her bad day kept getting worse.

"Brooke, don't be like this. Please trust my judgment. You know I'm usually a very rational person, but this, it just feels right. And before you even say it, it's not about sex. So please, just be happy for me?"

"You know I can never stay mad at you, lucky for you. Give me a few hours to let it sink in, and then I'll throw you the most kick ass reception ever courtesy of Nathan."