Haley groaned as she was greeted with the dial tone. Nathan had hung up on her. It wasn't terribly surprising after what she said. She ended the call and then decided to call Lucas. If the shit was gonna hit the fan she thought he deserved a warning. He didn't pick up. Haley really didn't want to leave him a message but she didn't want to have to call back later either.

"Hey it's Lucas, you know what to do," his voicemail said.

"Luke, it's Haley. I really need to talk to you. Call me as soon as you get this. It's really important," Haley said before she was cut off.

She closed her phone as she felt Jake's arms circle around her waist. Something about being with Jake made her nerves disappear instantly.

"Hey are you okay babe?" Jake asked.

"Ya. I just talked to Nathan and he asked me how Lucas feels about us naming our son Lucas. Now he knows that Lucas has been talking to me for the last 2 years and lying to him and Brooke about it," Haley replied.

"How pissed in Nate?"

"Real pissed cause he called me because he and Brooke got into an argument. Now he's gotta go tell her more news. This can only get worse for me."

"No, I don't think you can have anymore bad luck."

"Thanks Jake."

"You're welcome Hales."

Brooke was still asleep when she felt her stomach lurch. She got up quickly and ran to the kitchen because she knew she wouldn't be able to hold herself together all the way to the bathroom. As soon as she was standing over the trashcan Brooke opened her mouth and was throwing up immediately. Nathan had already woken up and was rushing down the stairs when he heard Brooke throwing up. Just like he had done the night before Nathan held Brooke's hair back as she threw up. It didn't last as long as it had the night before and she wasn't dizzy after she stopped. Nathan wrapped an arm around her waist and walked her back into the living room. They sat down on the couch in dead silence for a while. Nathan knew he couldn't tell Brooke about Lucas talking to Haley yet and Brooke still wasn't sure if she was ready to talk to Nathan.

"Baby I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm just tired and emotional," Brooke apologized.

"It's ok sweetheart. I know you didn't mean it but I didn't realize you felt patronized either. So I'm sorry too," Nathan replied.

Lucas had just got working out at the Nuggets' practice facility so he didn't have his phone on him. He went to take a shower and then entered the locker room to grab his bag. Instinctively he grabbed his phone to check for missed calls. He was surprised to see he had one from Haley. Not thinking anything of it, he listened to her message and although it made him nervous he called her back.

"Hales, it's Luke. What's up?" he said.

"I talked to Nathan today," Haley replied.

"About?"

"Us being in contact for the last 2 ½ years."

"Oh crap. How'd he take it?"

"Not well. He's pissed off. And he thinks Brooke will be pissed off too."

"Ya I know she will. And it's my fault. I lied to both of them. Oh god, they're gonna hate me."

"No, Luke. They're not gonna hate you."

"Yes they will Hales. Damn it! I never should have lied to them."

Lucas slammed his locker shut and stormed out to his car. He couldn't believe that the two years he had been talking to Haley were coming back to bite him in the ass. And now he was gonna have to face two of the worst people to have pissed at him.

"Luke, if they hate anyone it'll be me. Remember I told you not to tell them you were talking to me."

"But I agreed to it. I could have said no but I didn't. And now I have to face the fact that I lied to my brother and really close friend. Fuck."

"It'll be ok, Lucas. I swear."

"No it really won't. Nate I can handle but Brooke is gonna wanna put my head through a wall or something. She's gonna hate that I lied to her especially when I knew how bad it hurt her that you took off when you did. Damn it Hales! I was with her every day before we all split up and went to different parts of Florida for school. Every day Hales, she cried because she needed her best friend, she needed you and you bailed on her then got in touch with me and made me promise not to say anything to her or Nathan. I'm so fucked!"

"You think I liked doing that? I couldn't face Brooke then and it's still hard now. I'm sorry I put you in such a tight spot but I needed to make sure she was ok."

"Well she wasn't! And she's still not. Damn it Hales. You have no idea how hard it was to watch her heart break over and over again. She looked like someone whose mother and two best friends died at the same time. And in a way that's exactly what happened! I know you have nothing to do with her and Peyton falling apart but you left too. You're not the same girl you once were. It's like I don't even know you anymore."

"Why does everything have to be about Brooke? Why doesn't anyone ever ask me how I felt during the time I was away?"

"Because you left! It was a selfish thing to do. Shit Haley you watched Brooke lose her mom and Peyton's friendship and then decided to pursue your music. Nobody should ask how it made you feel. Although I can guess, you didn't feel a thing except excitement of the challenge ahead of you. Well guess what, the only challenge any of us had to deal with was how to keep Brooke alive! We couldn't leave her alone for more than five minutes out of fear that she would end her pain. You'll always be my best friend Haley but you pissed me off when you did that and it pisses me off now that I was dumb enough to go along with it when you made me promise to keep our contact between us."

Haley didn't know what to say now. All she could think was that Lucas was right. She was the one who messed up and left. No one had reason to question her feelings. The fact that she had gone made it pretty obvious. She only cared about herself and her music. Now she didn't have her music but she had something that she thought was better. She had Jake, Jenny, Lucas and Colin.

"Look I need to go. I apparently have some apologizing to do. And I'd rather do it now instead of later."

"Ok."

"Bye Haley."

"Bye Lucas."

Lucas closed his cell phone and walked the rest of the way over to his car. He had been too angry with Haley to go to his truck before. Nervously he dialed his brother's number. He figured he should talk to Nathan first and then Brooke or maybe if he was lucky he wouldn't have to talk to Brooke.

Nathan was in the kitchen getting a drink when he heard his cell phone ring. Anger swirled in his eyes as he realized it was Lucas' ring tone.

"Well if it isn't my lying shit of a brother," he greeted snappily.

"I'm sorry Nate," Lucas apologized.

"You're sorry! You knew where Haley was for 2 ½ fucking years, lied to Brooke about it and all you have to say is you're sorry! That's really low man. You saw how bad she was when Haley first left. Why the hell would you keep that from her?"

"I promised Haley I wouldn't say anything. She begged me not to tell Brooke. I really wanted to but a promise is a promise."

"I don't care what you promised Haley! Brooke was broken and you knew where her best friend was and kept it from her anyway. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Baby! What's going on?" Brooke yelled from the bedroom where she was changing.

"Nothing sweetie!" Nathan yelled back. He decided that he wasn't gonna be the one to tell Brooke about Lucas and Haley talking while Haley had been gone and Lucas lying about it. He'd leave that up to the two of them to decide who would get the "honors" there.

"Way to lie to your fiancé, Nate," Lucas laughed.

"It's not my thing to tell her. So shut your mouth bitch," Nathan shot back.

Brooke walked into the kitchen just then and gave Nathan a curious glance when she saw the anger in his expression. He waved her off hoping she wouldn't ask him about it. She was still sitting there a few minutes later listening to Nathan argue with Lucas when her cell phone rang. Grumbling she stood up and to go answer it. Her face twisted into an inexplicable expression when she saw Haley's name on the caller id.

"Hello," she said cautiously.

"Brooke I need to tell you something," Haley answered hesitantly.

"Ok what's going on?"

"Have you talked to Lucas today?"

"Um no but Nathan's fighting with him right now. Why?"

"Oh crap."

"Haley!"

"Sorry. Well Nathan and I talked earlier today and I told him that Lucas knew where I was for 2 ½ of the years I was gone."

"He what!" Brooke was livid.

"I'm sorry. I got a hold of him one day and we kept talking after that."

"Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't you call me? Haley I missed you so much. Not only that but I needed you and you were gone."

"I know I'm sorry. I couldn't face you after I had left like I did so when I was talking to Luke I made him promise not to tell you or Nathan. I'm so sorry this had to come out."

"Oh so you were hoping I'd never find out?"

"No it's not that. I just I didn't think about what would happen when you did find out."

"NATHAN!" Brooke yelled as she pulled her phone away from her ear.

"What sweetie?" Nathan replied.

"Are you still talking to your brother?"

"Yes."

"Good tell him not to hang up. I need to have a word with him."

"Ok baby."

"Thank you."

"Haley it's been real talking to you but I'm done."

"Brooke wait."

"No Haley. I can't believe you pulled this on me and expect me to make nice with you."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't care! You left and were talking to Lucas and made him lie to me! It's gonna take so much more than a verbal apology for me to even consider forgiving you. Bye!"

Brooke slammed her phone shut and stormed into the kitchen. She stopped and stood in the middle of the room with her hand out to Nathan.

"Brooke wants to talk to you," Nathan told Lucas.

"Ok," Lucas replied. Nathan could hear the nerves in his brother's voice but he didn't care because he knew whatever Brooke said to him was deserved.

"How could you lie to me like that! Two and a half fucking years Lucas. What is wrong with you?" Brooke yelled as soon as she got the phone.

"Brooke I'm"

"No! I do not wanna hear that you're sorry. That is such bullshit that I can't believe you think I'd be stupid enough to believe it. I don't know if I can ever trust you again. You saw how bad I was. You know I had a hard time living day to day without Haley and you knew where she was and did you tell me? No! And why is that? Because you made a stupid promise, completely ignoring the fact that I might have been interested to know my best friend was alive."

"It's not like that Brooke. I wanted to tell you. I told Haley the same thing but she begged me not to. I couldn't just ignore her pleadings to keep it between her and I."

"Oh but you could ignore the fact that I was upset beyond words because I didn't know where she was or why she left the way she did. Thanks a lot Lucas!"

"Brooke please, just listen to me."

"No I don't feel like it. You had plenty of time when you could have told me that you had been talking to Haley like maybe the first time she got a hold of you or whatever happened but no you didn't even bother. And don't tell me it was because of some promise. I don't want to hear that Haley's your best friend or anything else. She left, I didn't! You lied to me, you don't get to be upset."

"Sweetie, please calm down. All this stress isn't good for the baby," Nathan whispered desperately. He knew she needed to scream at Lucas but he didn't want anything to happen to her or the baby because of it.

"It's not my fault everything comes crashing down on me lately," Brooke hissed.

"He's right Brooke," Lucas said.

"Shut the hell up Lucas," Brooke snapped at him.

"Sorry."

"Whatever. I can't talk to you anymore. I'm sick of hearing your voice."

Brooke shoved the phone back into Nathan's hand and stormed off up the stairs to her office. She didn't want to deal with anyone for a while and her office was the one room in the house that she could lock herself in and not have to let Nathan in if she didn't want to. Which she knew wasn't fair but she didn't want to fight with him because she was pissed at Haley and Lucas. It would have been a different story if he had been the one lying to her about Haley was but it wasn't him, it was Lucas. Brooke just needed to be alone for a while to calm herself down. She knew Nathan was right, all the stress she was going through lately wasn't good for the baby.

"It's okay, baby, Mommy loves you," Brooke whispered softly as she rubbed her stomach gently. It was then that she realized she was crying. She couldn't take anymore. All she wanted to do was be happy with Nathan but every time she turned around something went wrong or someone was springing another "surprise" on them. Suddenly Brooke was over come with an idea for a song. It was called "Who's Cryin Now". She wrote it quickly and decided that as soon as they had the studio equipment installed in their basement she would go down there and record it.

"Who's Cryin' Now"

It's too late to say you're sorry
You've been gone from here too long
I hope you found what you were missing
Cause I don't miss you here at all

And it's too bad that I'm not crying for you baby,
Don't be sad, cause I've been fine without you lately

I'm saving my breath
I'm saving my tears
I'm saving my life for something
Better than these years
I've lost too much time
Crying over you
Don't look so surprised that I've
Got better things to do
Who's cryin now?

There's so many nights I wasted
I was waiting for your call
Did you think I'd wait forever?
I guess you don't know me at all

And I told you if you left you would regret it
Thinking I would take you back, but you don't get it

There's something you should know
I finally let you go
It had to end somehow
Tell me who's cryin now

A little while later, when she decided she was calm enough, Brooke unlocked the door to her office and went to see what Nathan was up to. She walked into the kitchen and found a note. "Babe, Went out for a run to clear my head. Be back in a little bit. I love you. Nathan".

Sighing as she placed the note back on the counter Brooke opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. She closed the fridge and went to the living room. Not sure what else to do while Nathan was out running she put a movie in the DVD player and got comfortable on the couch.

Two hours later, the credits were rolling across the screen as "The Notebook" was ending and Nathan still hadn't come home. Brooke was starting to get worried because Nathan was never gone this long when he went for run. Not even when he was clearing his head. She stood up to get her cell phone and call him just as she heard the door opening.

"Baby I was worried about you," she said as she greeted Nathan.

"I'm sorry. I was really frustrated so after I ran I went to the park and just sat there for a little while. I needed time to think before I came back. I didn't mean to worry you," Nathan apologized.

"It's ok. Just call me when you do that next time. Ok?"

"No problem."

Brooke smiled as she stood on her toes and kissed Nathan sweetly. Nathan smiled back as he wrapped his arms around Brooke's waist and pulled her for a deeper kiss. He hated to see her upset and not know how to fix it for her. This whole mess with Haley and Lucas was definitely one of those times. He wanted her to get through the rest of the pregnancy without anymore-major stress. Losing the baby would break both their hearts. She was so excited to be a mommy and he couldn't wait to see the life they had created enter into the world and grow up with two loving parents in himself and his fiancé. Brooke watched him closely and she raised her eyebrow at him as his smile grew and then disappeared and then came right back.

"Whatcha thinking about?" she asked.

"You and the baby," he replied as he put his hand on Brooke's growing stomach.

Brooke looked down at Nathan's hand and smiled before placing her hand on top. They stood like that for a few minutes before Brooke decided she had to pee. Nathan laughed as Brooke lifted his hand off her stomach and practically sprinted down the hall to the bathroom. If there was one thing that annoyed Brooke about being pregnant besides the constant throwing up and eating, it was definitely the constant trips to the bathroom.

"Hey Brooke!" Nathan shouted.

"Yes baby!" Brooke shouted back.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Is that it?"

"That's it."

"Ok."

"Why?"

"Because it's rather odd timing to tell me you love me."

"No such thing."

"Yes there is. Especially when our baby decides to play kickball with my bladder and I'm on the toilet."

"It doesn't matter to me. I love you no matter what's going on or what you're doing."

"That's sweet baby."

Brooke walked out of the bathroom with a smile on her face. It made her feel so lucky to have Nathan. Especially because he was so sweet to her.

"You're the best," she told him.

"No I believe you are the best my love," he replied.

Brooke's stomach growled and they both laughed.

"I think baby's hungry."

"What would you like?"

"Chicken soup."

"Coming up."

Nathan turned around and got everything he would need to make Brooke some soup. Brooke was glad she didn't have to make the soup herself because the thought of cooking made her nauseous. And that wasn't a feeling she was fond of.

"Thank you Nathan."

"For what?"

"Being you."

"You're welcome."

Brooke sat down at the table and stared at the engagement ring on her finger. A smile spread across her face as the light hit the diamonds in her ring and made them sparkle. To Brooke it was more than just an engagement ring, it was a symbol of how well the couple had made through some rough spots through the years and always managed to stay together. It was a tangible testament of their love for each other and Brooke couldn't wait to be married to Nathan.

"Baby we need to start making arrangements for the wedding," she announced, not taking her eyes off her ring.

"As soon as you're ready we can go look for a good place to have the wedding," he replied.

"There's more to it than that." She had to bite her tongue to conceal her laughter.

"I know that sweetheart. But don't the guys usually not get involved with anything other than the vows, the rehearsal, and showing up for the wedding?"

"Usually but you're not that kind of guy. I know you'll want to help and besides, I want this wedding to be about what we want as a couple, not just about what I want as the bride. It's your special day too."

"Ok."

"Good. We should get started tonight."

"With what? It's getting late."

"The guest list silly."

"Oh right, good idea."

Brooke laughed a little. A few minutes later the two of them were sitting at the kitchen table eating soup and discussing whom they should or should not invite to the wedding.

"Nathan we have to invite Dan," Brooke said.

"Why?" Nathan asked.

"He's your father."

"No he's not. He was never a father to me. The only man who was ever a father to me won't be there because he's dead."

"What about Coop? He's not dead."

"Coop's a crazy bastard."

"So are we gonna invite him or not?"

"Who? Coop or Dan?"

"Dan. I know you want to invite Coop."

"Fine. Whatever. But I'm not talking to him."

"Ok. It's your choice."

They continued discussing the guest list as they cleaned up their dishes. In the end they couldn't agree whether or not they wanted to invited Haley or Lucas based on the current situation but knew it was ridiculous not to have them there. Nathan needed a best man and Brooke was gonna need a maid/matron of honor.

"I'm getting tired. What do you say we go to bed and finish this tomorrow?" Nathan suggested.

Brooke had already fallen asleep with her head resting in her arms, which were folded, on the kitchen table. Nathan smiled to himself as he gently tried to wake her up.

"Baby, let's go to bed."

"Hmm," Brooke answered.

"Come on."

Nathan wrapped his arms around Brooke's neck and under her legs and carried her up the stairs to their bedroom. He laid her down gently on the bed and covered her with the blanket. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed with Brooke and wrapped a protective arm around her body letting his hand rest on her stomach before drifting off to sleep.

The song is by Saving Jane. Thought it fit perfectly with everything that's going on with Brooke. As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter!