Nathan yawned as he entered the basement apartment he shared with his older brother. It had been the worst of days almost 24 hours before when the two had tried to beat each other to bloody pulps and then in a twist of fate, the night had been saved and evolved into sheer bliss when he had ended up with Haley. They'd had hot and passionate sex before declaring their love. Then after a few more steamy sessions, the two had discussed making a commitment. Neither had wanted the nigh to end and it killed Nathan to have to leave her in the morning but there were a few more technicalities that had to be worked out before Nathan and Haley could really be together.

Nathan had hoped that Lucas would be gone, anywhere but the cramped living quarters that housed the mini fridge and the two twin beds. The confrontation was inevitable but he wasn't ready to face him. But sure enough, a shirtless Luke sat on the couch eating Corn Flakes.,

"Hey", Nathan mumbled.

"Gee, look what the cat dragged in."

Nathan rolled his eyes. Lucas sounded like their father.

"Not today man. It's too early. I can't do it with you this morning."

"Then don't", Lucas snapped. "Just don't talk to me."

"Fine with me."

"Good."

Nathan bit his lip as sat on his bed.

"You know what? This is bullshit, Luke. It's crap and you know it. I'm not just gonna stop talking to you because there is some stuff that needs to be said."

"I'm not interested", Lucas put his empty bowl on the table and stood to leave.

"You need to hear me out."

Nathan blocked the exit of a fuming Lucas.

"Nate, you've got exactly ten seconds to get the hell out of my way before I knock you out!"

"Then you're just gonna have to knock me out because I ain't moving…not until you listen to me."

"Looking for round two from yesterday?" Lucas sneered.

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Why do you always have to be a jackhole?"

"Nathan!"

"Look, I owe you an explanation, alright? Something has been building for a long time and last night things came to a head. Everything is different now. I'm in love, bro and I just spent an incredible night with an incredible girl I happen to love very much. She loves me too, Luke. That might be hard for you to hear, man, but it's the truth. I'm not gonna lie or hide this from you. I'm sorry if you're hurt because that was never the intention."

Even Lucas was surprised by his own level of calm.

"Are you sure you're really in love with her or is this just another way to dig at me?"

Nathan threw his hands in the air.

"It's not always about you, you selfish bastard."

"You didn't answer my question, little brother."

"Yes, I love her. I love her a lot. I love her with all my heart."

Lucas laughed bitterly.

"Isn't that sweet?"

"It's true and I'm man enough to tell you that to your face. You might not like it but you're gonna have to learn to live with it."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

Lucas nodded.

"I see. Tell me, bro, did you enjoy it? Did you like screwing her?"

"Getting kind of personal, aren't you? That's really none of your business."

"That's where you're wrong. It is my business."

"How do you figure?"

"Because I'm in love with her and just when things were good and she was starting to fall for me too, you made your move and stole my girl on purpose."

"Are you drunk, Luke? You must be or either you're on crack. That story sounds way familiar although you've conveniently managed to reverse the roles."

"Payback's a bitch and you've waited a long time to stick it to me, huh, Nate?"

"This is all on you, Lucas. You're the one that messed up. She's the greatest girl in the world and you were lucky enough to have her once. But you took it for granted just like you take everything else for granted."

"What are you talking about?"

"I love Haley and she loves me. I made a mistake a long time ago and she got away. Not this time."

"Listen, you can just save your pathetic little speech and…wait…did you just say Haley?"

"Yeah."

Lucas did a triple take.

"Let me get this one right. This whole time, you've been talking about Haley? She's the one you love, she's the one you slept with?"

"Yeah."

Lucas burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that his eyes watered and his sides ached.

"Nate…

"What the hell is so funny?"

Lucas struggled for breath.

"You mean, you're not with Brooke?"

"Brooke? Hell no! We're just friends. Why would you think that?"

"You guys hang out a lot."

"We talk", he shrugged. "She's cool."

"But I saw you with her. It was last week at the Den. I came by to pick her up and you two were slow dancing and all hugged up."

It was Nathan's turn to laugh.

"She knew how I felt about Haley and she was giving me pointers."

"She was?"

"Yeah. Brooke's not interested in me. Actually, she likes you or at least she did until you went all psycho on her."

Lucas sighed.

"So this was all one bug misunderstanding? The whole time we were talking about different people?"

"Looks that way."

"You and I fighting, Brooke and me fighting…it was all for nothing?"

"Because you're a hard headed, jealous, overreacting tool."

"Oh man. I messed up, dude. Nate, I'm sorry…"

"I don't care about your weak ass apologies anymore."

"I freaked out. I really dig Brooke and things were going great and I thought you were hooking up with her."

"Well, you thought wrong. What else is new?"

"I was wrong. I admit that. No excuses, man. I'm sorry."

He extended his hand but the dark haired brother ignored it.

"Haley and I are together now. Are you going to be cool with that?"

"You and Hales had something special and I tried to ruin that when I took her away from you. It was petty and stupid and mean and I was wrong. I shouldn't have done it but I did and we can't take back the past. Haley and I were all wrong for each other and I really hurt her. She's free now and I want her to be happy. She deserves good things. It might seem a little weird my brother being with my ex wife but then again, it should have been you two all along. I accept that and I respect it. Just be good to her and give her the kind of happiness I never could."

"Damn right I will", Nathan stood his ground.

Lucas hung his head.

"So, um…I guess Brooke is pretty mad?"

"Can you blame her?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"It was an honest mistake, Nathan. Could you just talk to her for me?"

"No. Do it yourself?"

"Think she'll listen?"

"I don't know."

He nodded.

"Leave it to me to fly off the handle and fuck everything up for everybody. I'm a jerk, Nate and sometimes I just can't help it. I've made my peace with Haley and I want to make things right with Brooke but you're my brother. Are we cool?"

Nathan looked Lucas right in the eye.

"No. No, we're not. You're a broken record, Luke and the excuses and the apologies are getting kind of old. You can talk to Brooke and if she forgives you then so be it but you better treat her right. She might be willing to put up with you but I'm not. Not anymore. I need a break."

"So what does this mean? What, we're not brothers anymore?"

Nathan swallowed hard.

"We're brothers. We're bonded by blood and biology. I can't help or change that. You don't get to pick your family. We'll always be brothers…but it doesn't mean we have to be friends."