"Brooke, baby, just stand up" Lucas pleaded.

"No!" Brooke whined, hitting the snow like a three year old. "I'm gonna look dumb again"

"No, you wont…you look very graceful" Lucas promised.

"And you're a good liar" Brooke smirked.

"Please? For me?" Lucas pleaded.

"Lucas don't use those puppy dog eyes on me!" Brooke said, smacking his leg. "I'm the master of the puppy dog eyes, not you!"

"I'm pretty good" he said, kissing her hair softly. "Please?"

"FINE" Brooke said. "Help me up" Lucas pulled Brooke up but she stood up, her legs skidded, and she promptly fell back down on the snow again. Lucas clamped his heavy glove over his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"SEE! You're laughing at me!" Brooke crossed her arms and huffed loudly at Lucas.

"I'm not laughing at you" Lucas said, choking back tears of laughter. His throat hurt from contained laughter. The way Brooke's legs had gone skidding and the sound of her heavy jacket thumping on the snow was too much for him. He sat down and started rocking back and forth with laughter.

"Yes, you are. Stop! Stop…Lucas" Brooke whined. She was sick of skiing…she hated it.

"Aw I'm sorry baby" Lucas laughed, pulling her closer to him and kissing her. "At least you tried…I can't even get Haley to try!"

"She's smart, that girl" Brooke huffed.

"You're smarter" Lucas said, in an attempt to gain back brownie points. Brooke, unfortunately, caught right on.

"Oh Lucas just because you said that doesn't make it all better" she teased with a twinkle in her eyes.

"See! Your eyes are twinkling…it means you're having fun" Lucas said.

"No, I'm not. Can we go back to the cabin, please?"

"Already? We've only been out here for 2 hours"

"ONLY? I'm going to freeze. I want to sit in the hot tub"

"Ok, whatever you want babe" Lucas said, helping her take off her skis. "Did you have fun?" he asked in a half sincere half teasing tone.

"LUCAS SCOTT!" Brooke shrieked.

"Sorry…" Lucas said, putting his arm around her and pulling her closer to him. Brooke pouted and Lucas kissed her on her cheek, savoring the smell of her shampoo. "You smell good even after two hours of being bundled up in rental clothes"

"I know…one of my many talents" Brooke giggled. Lucas's heart jumped at her giggle. He had no idea why…he had heard her giggle so many times before.

"Yes…many, many talents"

"That don't include skiing" she pouted.

"You'll get good at it someday, I promise!" Lucas said.

"Nah…I don't think snow is my kind of thing…too many clothes…I like the beach and my bikinis"

"So do I"

"Lucas!" Brooke laughed.

"Well, I do- do you want me to lie?" Lucas teased.

"You're pretty good at it…Peyton ring a bell?" Brooke teased back.

"Ooh, burn" Lucas said sarcastically.

"3rd degree" Brooke giggled.

"That made no sense"

"No, like a 3rd degree burn!"

"Shh…don't incriminate yourself"

"No big words, Lucas!"

"Don't make yourself sound stupid" he laughed.

"Lucas Eugene Scott!"

"Middle name" he winced.

"I get to use it when I'm mad" Brooke pouted.

"Aw, why are you mad?"

"Because you're making fun of me"

"Lovingly"

"Lovingly my ass…"

"Fine…I have a suggestion"

"Hmm?"

"First one inside the house gets to choose whether we have jets or bubbles in the Jacuzzi" Lucas said.

"Fine!" Brooke said. "Bring it...ready? Set…go!" Brooke yelled, sticking out her leg to trip Lucas and racing ahead.

"Haley just like left and she won't pick up her phone and she won't talk to me and I don't know what I did!" Nathan said to Jake after telling him the whole Dan story.

"Um, Nate, it was probably the whole Dan thing and the scheme"

"But I wasn't like insulting, was I? I'm just trying to save our relationship, dude"

"Go talk to her…knock on her door"

"I don't want her to throw me out"

"Nate…" Peyton insisted, playing with Jenny's toes. "Go"

"Fine…you guys chill here, ok?"

"Ok"

Nathan drove quickly to Haley and Brooke's apartment and knocked feverishly on the door. Haley opened the door and almost shut it when she saw him, but Nathan stopped it.

"Haley, just let me talk"

"What's there to say?" Haley snapped. "Another plan"

"I don't get why you're so upset"

"You don't get why I'm upset?" Haley asked.

"No, I don't"

"Because Nathan we were in such a good place and you had to go ruin it all. Screw Dan! Let him interrupt our renewal! What your plan said to me was that you were willing to even for a second risk our cherished relationship to outwit your father in a cat and mouse game! What if the time we spent apart had a significant impact on our relationship? I won't risk that!"

"Haley, I was just trying to save our marriage"

"Well that goals gone, Nathan, because I"

"I love you, Haley"

"I love you too Nathan, but I'm not ready"

"Ready for what? Haley we know each other inside out, there's no surprises in our future"

"I'm scared, Nathan, ok?" Haley said in a low voice, tears spilling over and running in twisting trails down her face. "Scared that now that I have you back I'll do something stupid and lose you again…scared that my life- which is you- will be snatched away from me if I become too close to it…I'm scared, Nathan, that you don't love me like I love you"

"Haley, I love you more than you'll ever know" Nathan said, hugging his sobbing wife close and kissing the top of her head softly. "And that will never change"

"Fine, you won and we got to use the jets" Lucas said, climbing out of the hot tub.

"Yup!" Brooke giggled, shivering. Lucas instinctively put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. Her wet hair clung to his chest and made him shudder with her touch. They still hadn't done anything more than kiss, and he had a feeling Brooke intended on keeping it that way. And if that's what she wanted, then that's what he was going to do.

After they both took a shower, Brooke and Lucas sat in front of the fireplace laughing and talking. The topic of discussion was cold weather.

"70 degrees is not cold" Lucas argued.

"YES, it is"

"No…"

"Uh huh" Brooke giggled, her eyes twinkling.

"Ok because you're so pretty I'll have to agree with you" Lucas said.

"See, it has its advantages" Brooke murmured sleepily, laying her head in Lucas's lap. She was drifting off into sleep, exhausted from the day's events. Lucas stroked her soft brown hair until her breathing was even and he knew she was asleep.

The huge grandfather clock struck midnight, ticking softly and Lucas stared into the flames of the fire. The flames licked back and forth and danced around. He looked down at Brooke, asleep in his lap. Her chest was rising and falling with every breath, and her eyelashes fluttered gently. Somewhere in between their silly fights, serious talks, petty arguments, long periods of wanting each other, and fun times, Lucas Scott had fallen madly in love.

A/N: Ok last chapter until somewhere around January 10th-15th! I know it sucks and I'm sorry! Please review a LOT! I'm jetting off to Italia in 2 days! Woot! lol I will miss writing but until then, I hope everyone has a TERRIFIC Christmas/Hannukah whatever lolwith lots of presents (hehe) and a Happy New Year with lots of partyingand a good holiday season...REVIEW!