Author's Notes: Alrighty guys- here it is. The last chapter of this story. It would have been out later today except my beautiful one year old daugther decided to keep me up from 1:00 o'clock in the morning till a little after three. So, that said...I hope you enjoy the chapter and as always leave a review. Love you guys!

Chapter Ten:
Answered prayers

by: D.Sollers

"Karen?"

Brooke knocked quietly on the hospital door and let herself in after a few minutes. She knew that the chances were that Karen was sleeping but still wanted a get a chance to say hello to the new mom and her baby. As she opened the door, she was surprised to see Karen sitting up and talking on the phone. Karen smiled at her and waved her in the room.

Brooke walked hesitantly towards the bed and peered down at Lucas's sister, a smile forming on her lips. She had never been one to understand children and never really wanted any as well. But as she saw the little girl sleeping, she couldn't help but want one. She was beautiful, a spitting image of both her mother and her father. "Can I hold her?" She whispered quietly, trying not to disturb Karen from her phone call.

Karen nodded her head and carefully handed the baby to Brooke. After a few minutes of hesitation, Brooke wrapped her arms around the baby and rocked her gently back and forth. It was new to her, the only baby she had ever really held was Jenny and that was when she was several months old. Karen watched as Brooke moved from one side of the room to the other, softly bouncing the new baby. She smiled at how natural Brooke was at taking care of the infant and sighed, knowing in her heart that Brooke would one day carry one of her own grandkids.

After a few minutes of watching Brooke, Karen politely ended her conversation with Andy. He promised to come and see her as soon as he was back in the united states and it was a visit that she was looking forward to. She had felt so lonely since Keith's death and wanted someone to be there for her. She felt sick of burdening Lucas with everything and desperately wanted someone other than Dan to talk to.

"What's her name?" Brooke asked softly as she placed the baby back in the cradle. She was sleeping soundly and Karen ran a hand over the babies back.

"Camilla Mae."

Brooke smiled and nodded her head. "That's a beautiful name Karen, Keith would have loved it."

"Where's Lucas?" Karen asked moments later.

Brooke shrugged her shoulders. Lucas was supposed to have met her in Karen's room twenty minutes ago and still there was no sign of him. She wondered if he had found the chapel and had decided to stay there for a while. "He said something about going to the chapel to light a candle…"

"Did you want to go and look for him?" Karen questioned.

Brooke's cheeks blushed and she nodded her head slightly. She wanted to be there for Karen and hated the idea of her being stuck in the room alone but she was worried about Lucas. "I'll come right back I promise…"

"It's okay Brooke, I am glad that you two are working things out. I can't pick a better person for my son than you," Karen answered honestly. Brooke nodded her head, happy to hear that his mother still loved her and wanted them to be together. She had no intention on ever doing anything to change Karen's mind. "Go get our boy."

Brooke waved goodbye to Karen and placed a gentle kiss on the baby's head. "Bye Camilla," she whispered before walking out of the room, intent on finding Lucas. As she walked down the hall, her cell phone went off.

"Hey Hales, what's up?" Brooke asked into the phone.

……

Nathan shook his head, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. His father had confessed to murdering his uncle. What the hell was he going to do? Nathan's mind had to have been playing tricks on him. There was no way that someone who was related to him could commit such a horrible crime.

'And over nothing,' he thought to himself.

"Go home Nathan," Dan said moments later.

Nathan shook his head. There was no way in hell he was going home, Dan needed to be stopped. "Why'd you kill him?" Nathan asked. As angry as he was, he couldn't help the tears forming in his eyes. How had his family come to this? Was it because he had left them? How had he not noticed the true monster that his father had become?

"He wanted to kill me. I killed him before he had another chance to kill me."

Nathan threw his hands in the air. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"The fire at the dealership? Keith admitted to buying the alcohol. He admitted to being there… Keith was the one that tried to kill me."

Nathan shook his head no and took a deep breath. It had all made since to him now. Dan blamed Keith for the dealership fire, when it had actually been his mother. He wanted Dan to know the truth, but didn't want his mother to suffer the consequences. She was just trying to protect everyone else, something that Keith had done everyday of his life.

"Keith didn't set that fire," Nathan said simply.

Dan smirked as he poured himself yet another glass of cognac. Since Nathan had been there, he had drank quite a few and he wasn't sure just how much his father could handle. He was drunk and angry, two things that didn't go well together. That's why he had sent Haley home, he just hoped that she had listened to him and actually went home.

"And who did? You? Lucas?"

Nathan shook his head. "Mom."

For a split second, Nathan saw the realization creep onto Dan's face. But after a few moments of panic, the look was gone. Dan shook his head violently, fully believing that his son was lying. There was no way he had been wrong. It was Keith who had set the fire, Keith who had tried to kill him. "It was Keith damn it. That's why I killed him. I killed Keith…"

He fell down to the couch and tears fell from his eyes. "I killed him," he kept repeating as he placed his head in his hands. The realization that he had killed him for nothing swept through his body and he felt sick. Doubling over in pain and confusion, Dan threw up in the nearby trashcan.

Nathan watched his drunken father fall apart and tears entered his eyes. He had tried so hard to protect his family and hadn't realized this whole time who he should have been protecting them from. Dan wasn't just an over controlling, money hungry, power seeking father. He was a monster who had deliberately and intentionally killed his own brother.

"You have to turn yourself in," Nathan finally managed to say. He turned to his father and shook his head. "Either you turn yourself in, or I will. But you're not getting away with this any longer. What you did… there's no excusing it."

Dan looked up at his son and shut his eyes. How had he done this? He thought to himself. It hadn't gotten him anything. A few extra months with his sons and a few conversations with Karen. That's all. She was no closer to loving him than she had been before he had killed Keith. And now that Nathan and Haley knew… there was no way he was going to be able to get out of this.

His life was over.

And then, a thought passed through his head. The young couple had no proof, it would be their word against his. And he was the mayor of Tree Hill. Everyone would believe him over two teenagers any day. "Okay," Dan said simply. He stood up and made his way over to his desk. "I'll do it," he lied.

Nathan leaned against the doorframe and watched his father as he opened the desk drawer. "I just have one more thing…" Dan said as he slowly pulled out a gun. Nathan's eyes widened and he backed against the door. There was no way that Dan was going to kill him, right? He was his son and Dan had always loved him underneath everything. Dan wasn't going to shoot his own son.

But Nathan shook his head, knowing that he couldn't trust that to be true. After all, Dan had killed his own brother.

……

"Calm down Haley, telling me what is going on…" Brooke soothed as she sat down at a cafeteria table. She had been on her way towards the chapel when Haley had said how important it was and Brooke could hear the desperation in her voice.

Haley stuttered. "Brooke… you have to get Lucas, it's Dan…"

"What about Dan?" Brooke questioned.

Haley continued, and Brooke could tell that her friend was close to breaking down in hysterics. "He killed Keith and blamed Jimmy for it," Haley finally managed to get out. "Nathan and I overheard him and Nathan's upstairs alone with him…" Haley cried.

"What? Did you call the police?" Brooke asked.

Haley began to explain to her that the police were on their way and that she knew Nathan would want Lucas to be there. Brooke took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay Haley. I'll find Lucas and we'll be there as soon as we can. Be careful," Brooke said as she hung up the phone and rushed past the people in the cafeteria. She needed to get to Lucas and she needed to get to him fast.

……

Peyton laid her head against Jake's bare chest and snuggled against him. "This is great," she whispered up to him and he nodded his head. "I've missed this…" She continued.

"Well we could always…" Jake suggested.

Peyton found herself giggling, something she had never expected herself to do. But there was something about Jake that did something to her. Every time they were together, she felt as if it was her first time all over again. "You couldn't possibly…" Peyton shook her head.

"Are you kidding? I'm 18 years old and have been away from you for over a year," He laughed. Peyton nodded her head softly and leaned up to kiss him. She intertwined her fingers with his and smiled at him.

"I guess we have a lot to makeup for…"

……

"It's over dad, just give it up."

Dan shook his head violently, the gun moving from side to side. He wasn't sure if he could shoot Nathan, all he knew was that he wasn't letting his son ruin his plans. He wanted Karen back, to claim what had been his from the start of it all. "I can't...it doesn't work that way Nathan and you know it," Dan said.

For the second time, in 18 years a gun was being held in front of Nathan. Only this time it wasn't just some scared kid from school who had been pushed and made fun of all his life. It was his father, a person he was supposed to be able to trust with his life. He tried to momentarily think back, to memories where he knew his father loved him and would always be there for him and he came up empty. At the time, he had just told himself it wasn't in Dan's nature to be loving. But now as his angry father flared his gun, he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Nathan, we need to get the hell out of here..." Haley's voice called out to him.

He turned towards the door, hoping to God that Haley wouldn't come in the room but she did. Dan turned the gun to face her and she held her breath. "Dan, what are you doing?" She cried.

As Nathan's father was about to say something, he heard the sirens approaching in the distance. He turned to the window and shook his head. "You called the police?" He accused. Nathan turned to Haley and stepped in front of her.

"Don't point that at her," Nathan demanded. Dan held the gun but the anger on his face had washed away. The man stood in front of his son and pleaded to him.

"Don't do this Nathan, please."

Haley had had enough. There was no way that Dan was going to play anymore mind games than he already had with her husband. "Nathan didn't do this Dan, you did. You killed your own brother and let Jimmy take the fall for it. That was convienant. Why would you do that to Lucas? To Karen?"

"Because- Keith had no right to try and take my place."

Nathan laughed at his father's words. "He didn't take your place dad. Keith loved Karen everyday since the two of you broke up. What about mom? Did you even really love her?"

Dan looked at his son and dropped the gun. How could he have been so blind? His anger and resentment had cost him his whole family. As he fell back into the chair, he heard the cops coming up the stairs. He knew that it was over. The secrets and the lies that he had been keeping were going to come out. He could go to jail for killing his brother and nothing could stop it. No one would believe him now.

"I can't believe it," Lucas said thirty minutes later.

Brooke wrapped her arms around him and watched as Dan was handcuffed by the police. She shook her head, not knowing the right thing to say in the situation. Justice was being served and Keith's death would finally start to make sense. Brooke noticed a wrecked Haley being comforted by Nathan and she looked up hesitantly at Lucas. "At least this way… at least the truth finally came out."

Lucas nodded his head. He looked down at the girl beside him and tears entered his eyes. Lucas couldn't bring himself to cry as he ran his fingers through her brown hair. "I don't know what I am going to tell my mom," he said finally.

Brooke understood how Lucas felt and knew that the months ahead of them all would not be easy. Karen would have to come to terms knowing that she had let Dan in and had even began to develop a friendship with him. Haley would have to deal with the fact that she had almost lost Nathan that day. Both Lucas and Nathan would have to deal with knowing that their father, had intentionally murdered their uncle.

"Just know I'm here for you okay Luke? Whatever you need. I'll be here," Brooke whispered against his shirt. He nodded his head, knowing that what she was saying was true. Brooke would always be there for him and he knew it. If the last year had proven anything to him, it had proven to him that he could always count on her. "I'm always going to be here for you."

Brooke felt a single tear hit her cheek and she looked up at him. She no longer saw the strong boy that she had fallen in love with. Lucas had finally broke. The tears fell from his face freely and he made no effort of pushing them away. After months of silence, Lucas finally began to cry.

He cried for the times that he and Brooke had missed out on. He cried for knowing that his mother would never again see Keith. Tears fell from his eyes knowing that he had lost the only father he had ever known.

Nathan and Haley walked quietly over to the other couple and Lucas felt Nathan's hand on his shoulder. He looked up at his brother and nodded his head in understanding. The two were bonded by so many things and this was just another one of them. They had been through so many emotions together and they both knew that they would always be connected.

"What are we going to do?" Haley cried.

Brooke turned to her best friend and wrapped an arm around her. She looked at Nathan and smiled slightly before turning her attention towards Lucas. "Let's go see Karen, I'm sure she's going to need all of us."

The three friends agreed with her and the two couples made their way to separate cars. Brooke watched as Nathan shut the door behind Haley and got into the driver seat. Lucas did the same for Brooke and grabbed a hold of her left hand as soon as he was inside the car. She looked at him and smiled slightly.

"I love you Lucas."

Lucas nodded his head but said nothing. He didn't need to respond to her, she already knew how he felt. The letters he had given to her had proven just how serious he was about her. But the tears that he had let her see, they spoke volumes about just how much he trusted her. From now on, Brooke knew that they were together and that nothing would come between them.

Nothing.

The End...