Chapter 38! YAY! So far I actually have through 42 written... I just havent been able to post them! haha so I'll post them like every 3 or 4 days... anyways! Thanks sooo much for the reviews! Enjoy this chapter!
Karen rushed around the kitchen with Peyton and Haley's help. It was Easter, and even better than that Brooke and Rylan were coming home today… after a few small set backs Brooke finally pulled through just like they all knew she would, so Karen felt like this Easter needed to be especially happy and fun. Everyone needed it to be. But nothing was going as planned. Lucas, Jake and Nathan were all 3 asleep on the couch in the living room… being no help what so ever. Lucas was worn out from spending all his time at the hospital with Brooke and the baby, Jake was tired from having a new baby in the house, and Nathan… well anyone living with Haley and James would be worn out. Then there were Peyton and Haley… Peyton was so tired she couldn't see straight, and Haley refused to put James down, worried he was going to hurt himself with something in the kitchen… so this left Karen basically doing all the cooking herself. And she was cooking for A LOT of people. Haley, Nathan, James, Peyton, Jake, Jenny, Herself, Andy, Brandon, Whitey, Deb… who would probably bring Dan and anyone else who decided to show up. The only people that she knew weren't going to be there were Brooke, Lucas and the kids since neither Rylan nor Brooke needed to be around all the germs.
"Lucas… its 10:00… LUCAS" Karen yelled into the den to wake Lucas up. He was sprawled across the couch with a pillow over his eyes and his feet hanging off the edge.
"What? I'm up…"
"10:00… Brooke?"
"Right…" Lucas sighed closing his eyes again. He was too tired to get up, once he was up there wasn't going to be any good sleep for months…
"Now?"
"I'm going… where are the girls?"
"Over there" Karen smiled patting Lucas's red cheeks and pointing to the corner of the room where Chloë and Allie were trying to strip out of their green Easter suites.
"Mom… what the hell did you dress my children in?"
"Easter Suites"
"Brooke is going to kill you" Lucas laughed seeing Allie and Chloë try and walk in them. They had probably only worn real pants 10 times in their life, and that was when it was really cold and tights wouldn't cut it.
"Why?"
"You dressed her girls in pants mom! You know how Brooke feels about the girls wearing pants… and they are dressed exactly the same! In green… I might as well not go get her because she's going to have a heart attack seeing them like that… buns!" Lucas asked seeing them little buns on the top of their heads. Brooke was going to loose it if she saw them like that! Especially today when she hadn't seen them in days.
"Lucas… they are jump suites, and their hair is out of their eyes, and green is eastery"
"Mom… I know you have a zillion pictures of me in these kinds of things… Even Haley too but Brooke wants them in short little frilly dresses with their hair down"
"She is going to turn them into 2 year old sluts" Karen laughed. It had been nice the past couple days being able to dress the girls… get them away from their usual dresses with the frilly underwear showing they were so short, and to have their long brown hair out of their eyes… she had even taken away their pacy's.
"As long as she's the one to do it… I think she had some dresses for them in the car"
"Suite yourself… but they like what they're wearing, don't you girls?"
"Nowa" Allie whined glaring at Karen
"I cant walks!"
"See… and it doesn't matter what they like today… or what anyone likes but Brooke, ok? She is REALLY emotional, just don't have anything to upset her… ok?"
"Ok… ok… you better go get them dressed or you're going to be late" Karen sighed shaking her head. It was pointless to even try to get those girls to turn out normal. With Brooke as their mother they were of course going to be girly and prissy, and with Lucas as their dad… they were going to be sweet, but spoiled as hell.
"I wish Nathan had cared that much when I had James… poor guy didn't know about hormones, he probably thought I was going to kill him in his sleep, he wouldn't let me around James for 2 days because he thought my craziness was going to spread" Haley laughed shooting Nathan a look.
"Yea… I don't think Jake really knew what to think… here's it's been 2 weeks and I still have my moments where I think I might just kill him, like the other day when he had Anna in a dress…"
"No dresses?" Karen asked liking the sound of that. Peyton seemed more together with Anna than anyone had imagined. She was of course tired and still a little emotional but she seemed to know what she was doing.
"No dresses… I think Allie and Chloë wear enough dresses for everyone, No Pink either… its too cliché, I did get her this little onesie that says Fall Out Baby on it"
"Nathan's already got James in the sports wear…Nike, sports jerseys and arm bands…"
"You need a girl Haley" Peyton laughed looking at Haley holding James. He was such a boy with his little Jordan 23 jersey on and his hair spiked up at the front.
"Nope… I need a cleaner house, more time to spend with James and Nathan and a money tree would be nice too… maybe when James is 5 or so… and in school"
"I just can't wait to see how Brooke and Lucas are going to do it when 3 kids… work and everything else they have going on at one time or another"
"It should be interesting" Karen sighed
Brooke sat in bed looking in the mirror. This really sucked… she looked like crap and she had to see everyone like this. At least being here this long had had 1 benefit, she'd lost 10 pounds… of course they kept telling her that wasn't good but either way she fit into her jeans and her sweater which was comforting. And her toe nails looked good… now that she could reach her toes again she gave them an awesome pedicure. Her hair wasn't too bad either, and other than the circles under her eyes and he pale lips her face was clear. She added some concealer under her eyes and some lip-gloss to finish off her make up. It wasn't too bad for someone who had almost died last week. And it wasn't like anyone was going to care what she looked like… but it was fun to get dressed up and look good again… well at least good enough. Just as she was finishing up hooking the strap on her favorite wedges (Which she wasn't supposed to be wearing) there was a knock at the door and a nurse came in. Her name was Emily and she was probably 40… She had been Brooke's nurse a few times since she had been there, and she didn't seem to really like her, but Brooke didn't care…no one here had to like her… they just had to keep her well.
"Mrs. Scott… Are you ready for the baby?" Emily asked flipping off Brooke's TV. People in this place were so rude, then again it was Tree Hill. They wouldn't even let her keep Rylan in her room after 10:00. Last night she had been laying with him playing with his little fingers and they had come in and taken him like kidnappers.
"Yea… actually… can I walk down and get him? I've been stuck in her forever and I can go ahead and pack up all his stuff while I'm down there, then when Luke gets here with my girls we can get out of this place"
"We usually don't"
"You usually don't almost kill people having babies either…" Brooke whispered knowing that would do it. That's how she had gotten her way with everything here…
"I'll have to walk with you"
"Works for me"
"How old are your other children?" Emily asked once they were out of the room. Of course Brooke pulled out her wallet and flashed her pictures of Allie and Chloë.
"Just Allie and Chloë, they're 2"
"Wow… those 3 are close in age"
"They weren't exactly planned that way… but hey, that's what makes it fun right?" Brooke asked. She wasn't going to let that woman win… of course this was going to be hard… juggling 3 children… especially in 2 weeks when Lucas went to play offs.
"I don't know, I don't have any… Maiden name Davis right?"
"Yea"
"I went to school with your mom and dad… I remember when they had you" Emily smiled like that was a good memory. Brooke could only imagine what it was like when she was born… 1 because there were no pictures, and plus this was her parents they were talking about.
"I'm sure they were in mourning"
"I talked to you're mom your senior year… I believe they were living in California? You were still here"
"Yea" Brooke sighed. This was a fun conversation. Talking about her parents and her childhood.
"She said you were in love with a Scott boy… She didn't think you'd marry him though, not enough money"
"That's the difference between me and my mom I guess… She married dad for his money, I married Lucas for his looks… kidding. I married him because I love him"
"Ok… can you handle it yourself from here?" Emily asked hearing Brooke's frustration with the subject.
"Yea…"
"You're going to have to walk through the NICU to get to him, the main entrance is blocked off due to a security breech, wash your hands, wear a gown while in there, anyone asks tell them I Oked it"
"Thanks"
After finally getting the girls dressed in their pink and purple butterfly dresses Brooke had picked out, and pulled their hair out of the terrible ponytails Karen had put them in, Lucas took a minute to explain to them how Brooke was coming home and how they needed to give her lots of hugs and all the pictures they had made for her. They were both way too excited to listen… they hadn't seen her in almost a week since visitors had to be 13 and older. They had gotten to see Rylan everyday… but neither of them understood that he was coming home with them. Allie kept asking to go to Rylan's house to see him, and Chloë just wanted to know why his bed was 'midable" (Invisible). It was going to be major shock for everyone having him home, but Lucas was really excited. Allie and Chloë would get used to him at some point… he hoped and things would get back to normal… somewhat in a few weeks.
"Ok… you guys ready to bring mommy home?" Lucas asked sitting them both on the kitchen counter to give their hair another shot. They were so little compared to James who was sitting beside them playing with Haley's hair.
"Yeahya!"
"And Rylan?"
"He come play?" Allie asked excitedly.
"Sure… we'll go with that…"
"I look pretty?"
"So pretty… you too Allie" Lucas smiled kissing them both on the forehead.
"I no like pants"
"Yea… yaya doesn't know how to dress little girls" Lucas whispered to the girls pointing over to Karen.
"You do!"
"I do… but we'll see if Peyton can work on your hair really quick"
"Sorry… I don't do the hair thing… Brooke always did my hair, and she is going to do Anna's too" Peyton laughed looking at Allie and Chloë's tangled hair
"Hales?"
"Luke… I have a 2 year old son… when would I have time to work on my hair abilities?"
"Mom?" Lucas asked knowing her answer would be the same… not because she couldn't do hair, just because she was mad that Lucas had taken down what she had done in the first place.
"I'm with Haley"
"What am I supposed to do?"
"You bus it daddy" Allie laughed
"I brush it…"
"Just let Brooke do it when you get there… I know she is dying without those 2 and she'll probably be thrilled to get her hands on them"
"Right… ok then we're gone" Lucas said taking a girl in each arm.
"Bye… I'll drop by later with the food and presents"
"Us too" Peyton and Haley both said as Lucas left. As soon as he was gone all 3 of them started laughing.
"He's such a dad"
"My dad could never do my hair either… after my mom died I went to school with screwed up hair for a year until Brooke couldn't take it anymore and did it herself"
"I love how they're so after school special… only with a lot of sex and stuff. They're like a bad porno" Haley laughed then stopped seeing the look on Karen's face.
"No more chit chat you two… cook"
"Yea… I cant do that either"
As soon as Emily started to walk off Brooke make her way to the scrub room. Just being in there made her feel sick… The whole place was so sad and depressing, plus the gowns were hideous! But she guessed people in there didn't really care what they had to put on, she hadn't… After she finished washing her hands and put on a gown she pushed open the double doors and made her way through the room. It was quiet, only the sounds of machines and buzzers going off. It was pretty sad that it was Easter and all of those babies were there alone, while the rest of their families were probably off having Easter together.
"Excuse me, are you a nurse? His chest is twitching" A woman asked tapping Brooke's side as she walked by. The poor woman looked so frazzled and drained… way worse than Brooke, then Brooke couldn't blame her… she must be going through hell if she were here.
"No… and it looks like he has the hiccups… see?" Brooke whispered pointing to the baby's chest. Brooke almost laughed at the thought that she knew what she was talking about for once. When Allie and Chloë had been in the NICU everything they did scared her…but this baby looked so much sicker than Allie and Chloë ever had.
"Everything he does scares me"
"Yea… Allie and Chloë used to get them all the time and it would scare the hell out of me"
"So… which ones yours?" The woman asked wiping her eyes. Brooke hated to say that Rylan was in the newborn nursery… she had hated all the other women who had told her than when she had had the girls…
"Rylan…He's um… in the other room"
"You're lucky, this place is terrible"
"I know…" Brooke sighed sitting down beside the poor woman. She sounded like she hadn't talked to anyone in a while and seemed excited to be talking to Brooke.
"All friends talk about how they know, and they don't, they have no idea what its like to have a baby in here…"
"I do… hell I had 2 in here at the same time"
"I'm sorry" The woman whispered not taking her eyes off her baby. Brooke felt so bad for her… she had that bad feeling in her chest.
"They're fine now… a little smaller than most kids their age, but I think that's genetics"
"What was wrong with them?"
"Early…" Brooke smiled not saying anything more. She didn't think that poor woman wanted to hear her whole dramatic story.
"Matthew was 2 days late, I figured he'd be ok"
"2 days late? Wow, I can't imagine, Rylan was still 2 weeks early and I don't think I could have taken anymore"
"You look too young to have 3…" The woman laughed
"I am" Brooke smiled not lying.
"My husband and I wanted to start our careers first, so we figured we'd wait and try when we were about 30, then after 4 miscarriages I finally got pregnant, He was fine until my husband held him, then he turned blue… there's a hole in his heart"
"I'm so sorry"
"Yea, he's having another surgery next week. He'll be 4 months old" The woman smiled. Brooke couldn't believe it. He had been in there for 4 months! That was crazy.
"4 months?"
"Yea…My husband is up in Maine having Easter dinner with his sister, she just got married and he hasn't seen her in a while, I didn't want to leave Matt"
"Of course" Brooke whispered.
"Mrs. Scott… Rylan's all ready"
"Thanks…"
"Go ahead… Thanks for stopping though, there aren't a lot of people around here" The woman smiled sadly. Brooke felt so bad for leaving but she hated to stay and annoy the woman too.
"I know what you mean, hey… if you ever want to talk… or just need some company… just call… Here's my husband's card, my cell's on the back"
In the nursery one of the nurses was dressing Rylan in a yellowish shirt. After seeing that Brooke was sure there wasn't a more terrible color on the planet… luckily she had come pre-pared with her own clothes the girls had helped her pick out a few weeks ago.
"Hi buddy… you ready to go home and see everyone?" Brooke asked taking her baby from the woman. He was so cute with his blonde hair and blue eyes. He wasn't like most blonde babies who didn't have any hair… Rylan had a head full of blonde hair, and those beautiful blue eyes that took your breath away. You could see more and more Lucas in him everyday, no matter how much Haley and Peyton joked that he was Felix's.
"He cried all night"
"He just wanted his mommy…"
"You're taking home a 7 pound baby" The nurse smiled like that was big. He looked so small to her, especially compared to the baby girl beside him.
"That's ok… he'll grow into the pimp hat I got him"
"That's a first, is everyone excited to see him"
"Yes… It apparently took Lucas 2 hours to explain why we couldn't bring him to Easter Brunch" Brooke laughed trying to hurry the conversation up. She wanted to get him back to the room before Lucas got there with the girls so she could change him into a better outfit.
"You and Lucas's parents must be dying"
"Well… Lucas's mom is, mine don't know and his dad… Dan Scott"
"Right…" The woman smiled. Brooke needed to say no more. She kept forgetting this was Tree Hill and everyone knew the story… and everything about her and Lucas.
"But that's ok… his 2 big sisters are going to wear him out today… plus I'm sure everyone will stop by"
"Well he's all ready for you… and here's a bag of his stuff"
"Jeez Rylan… did you get enough loot?" Brooke asked the baby who was already asleep in her arms.
"More than most… good luck"
"Thanks, alright dude… lets go wait for daddy and your sisters"
Before going up to Brooke's room Lucas stood in the parking lot giving Allie and Chloë's hair one last shot. Brooke always made it look so good, it was always so smooth and silky… right now it was stringy and tangled and whenever he tried to brush it they cried. Today was going to be a long day… between trying to get everything ready at home, and people stopping by, and Allie and Chloë who would probably be craving attention… long day didn't even begin to cover it. After giving up on their hair and taking a girl in each arm carried them upstairs to Brooke's room. Brooke was laying back on the bed with Rylan watching The Princess Bride and eating jello.
"Mommy!" Both girls shrieked seeing Brooke.
"My girls! My Husband! Its about time you came to jail break me" Brooke laughed sitting up to give Lucas a kiss and hand him Rylan so she could help the girls onto the bed with her.
"I miss you!"
"I missed you guys too! SOOOO much! Hugs! Kisses"
"We gotted a bruh-der" Chloë whispered in Brooke's ear.
"I know… who do you think gave him to you?"
"Easer Bunny" Allie laughed giving Brooke that 'duh' look. Karen had definitely done some damage while they had been staying with her
"Easter Bunny my ass… Who told you that?"
"Yaya"
"Remind me to kill her later… Babies come from sex, not the Easter Bunny… although I did have a bunny Halloween costume one time that" Brooke giggled until Lucas gave her that look.
"Brooke" Lucas laughed
"Sorry… look at you guys… you look so pretty…"
"Not hair" Allie whined showing Brooke her hair
"I see that… Lucas, what have you been doing to our girls hair?"
"Trying to brush it"
"Daddy's aren't good at hair… it's a good thing Rylan wont have long hair, come here…" Brooke said taking a hairbrush from her band and running it under the faucet.
"How did you do that?"
"You wet the hair brush…I missed you" Brooke smiled hugging Lucas
"I was going to come last night but I ended up falling asleep on the couch with the girls"
"It's ok… Rylan and I watched Nip Tuck, didn't we dude?"
"Him too?" Lucas sighed hugging her with his free hand
"He had to see his name sake…God, I missed you girls soooooo much! Did you have fun at Yaya's?" Brooke asked heading back over to the bed to sit with the girls
"I no like pants"
"Lucas"
"Yaya decided they needed Easter suites" Lucas sighed shaking his head.
"Thank you for changing them… ohh and yea… from now on you change Rylan's diaper, he can pee on you"
"Nice" Lucas laughed
"Not nice… I swear he was laughing as he did it, come here, your such a guy already… your lucky you're so cute… so what did you end up telling them about why we weren't coming"
"You're very hormonal"
"Really now…" Brooke asked kissing Lucas. She had missed that too.
"Well it worked…"
"Lucas, honey, Broody…"
"What…" Lucas sighed putting his forehead against hers. She was using her wanty needy voice.
"Can we go by Bojangles on the way home?"
"Bojangles?"
"Yes… I'm starving for Bojangles… and a Martini but I'll be good and not drink that for Rylan's sake…" Brooke whined throwing in the martini thing to make him feel compelled to please her.
"Bojangles it is"