"Hello and welcome aboard Alaska Airlines flight 298, service to Wilmington, North Carolina. We are glad to have you on board today. The aircraft is schedule to land at 2:53 PM today. We are just waiting for a few final passengers to board before we begin our taxi.

"I hate airplanes," Brooke Davis mumbled as the flight attendant gave her little opening announcement.

"It'll be fine," Ryan assured her rubbing her tense shoulders for support. "Airplanes are basically the safest form of transportation they have. And think about it. Would you rather spend eight hours in a car, or one hour on a plane?"

"Okay true," she replied. "and I've always got my trusty dusty Cosmopolitan."

"And I've got my iPod," Ryan said pulling the black iPod Nano out of his pocket and placing the ear pieces in his ears.

Brooke flipped the magazine open but stopped short to get a glance at the final, very late, passengers coming on board.

"Ohmigod," she said quickly hitting Ryan in the side to get his attention.

"What?" he asked pulling the earphones out of his ears.

"Look," she said ducking behind him as best as possible and pointing towards the young man and woman who found their seats in the last row of first class, three rows behind Brooke and Ryan.

"What?" Ryan said obviously confused.

"That's," Brooke started still pointing and ducking, "That's Lucas!"

"That's a girl," Ryan said through bared teeth so only Brooke could hear him and nobody could see his lips moving.

"No," Brooke squealed in a whisper. "Behind her. By the window. Look!"

Ryan turned his head slightly to stare at the man and woman who were getting situated in their plane seats.

"Don't stare!" Brooke whispered yanking back on Ryan's shirt to turn his head.

"Well how am I supposed to look?" he inquired, a puzzled look spread across his tanned face.

Brooke pulled him over.

"Look through here," she said putting his head through the centimeter wide crack between the two leather seats, giving him a slight view of the blonde and red head.

"It is him," Ryan said, struck with awe in his voice. He recognized that face. Lucas Scott was the new fad of sports news. From ESPN, to Sports Illustrated, to the sports section of the newspaper. You name it, Lucas was on it.

"Now turn around before they think we're crazy," Brooke whispered opening her magazine back up.

"Well they can't even see us," Ryan said turning his body back around. "But the people behind us probably think we have staring problems." He pressed the center button on the iPod, lighting the screen.

"No," Brooke said. "They'll think you have staring problems. Not me."

"Ugh," Ryan begged to differ. "It's not my fault. You're the one who wants me to spy on them."

"So," Brooke said. "It doesn't matter because you are the one doing the spying."

"Whatever," Ryan rolled his eyes and trying his best to just roll with the punches Brooke sent his way. She had so much fire in that little body it was almost amusing. "But you're going to have to see him later today anyway so why not break the ice sooner rather than later."

"You know what. You are not helping this one bit mister! You're supposed to be protecting me from him."

In comforting gesture, Ryan wrapped an arm around his fiancé.

"It might seem horrible at first," Ryan said. "And I know it's scary. But you're going to be so much better once you take the big step. I mean think about it: forty eight hours of Lucas or weeks worth of headaches, sleepless nights, and stress. It's a downhill climb from here on out. And just remember, I'm here for you the whole way through."

"Thanks," Brooke whispered stroking a hand through his short brown locks and giving him a short sweet kiss on the lips. "Okay so I have one thing that's really bugging me."

"What's that?" he asked.

"Who's the chick he's with?"

"Hide me," Lucas said throwing the complimentary airline blanket over his head in an act to cover himself.

"Take that off," Rachel sneered snatching the blanket off from over his head. "Don't make yourself look like an idiot."

"She can't see me," he said trying hard to make it look like he was happily staring out the nine inch airplane window, while he really was concealing himself from the rest of the people on the plane. "I can't let her see me."

"Let who see you?" Rachel exclaimed.

"B-Brooke," he stuttered. "She and her 'fiance' are like two rows ahead of us."

Rachel let out a loud laugh.

"You're like a little kid," she said loudly. "You're going to have to see her in approximately, what, two hours anyway."

"I know," Lucas said. "And I seriously dread those two hours."

Rachel sighed opening up a Vogue magazine. "This is going to be a long plane ride."

So far, the plane trip had gone rather fast for Brooke. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was good because she hated planes and they hadn't crashed yet, if the ride kept going fast, they would be off in no time. On the other hand, it was not good because the minute they got off that plane she would have to see Lucas' face over and over again. He would be everywhere she was: baggage claim, the highway, and Nathan and Haley's house for god's sake.

Brooke had been quiet the entire trip and it didn't go unnoticed by Ryan. The usually gabby, chipper, blabbermouth had been replaced by a shy, scared little girl. He wished there was something that he could do to make it all go away, but he knew he couldn't. It was probably better that they just get it over with now rather than later. And how bad could this Lucas guy be? He was probably all talk and no walk. In fact, he was probably just as nervous about seeing Brooke as Brooke was about seeing him.

Brooke suddenly had the urge to pee. She knew she better go now because if she waited any longer, the plane would have already begun its descent and she would have to hold it. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she slid past Ryan.

"I have got to pee," she said emphasizing the word got. "Be right back."

Brooke made her way to the back of the plane where the bathrooms were located. Because of the short distance in which the aircraft was traveling, the passengers were placed in a smaller plane than usual. Because of this, there was no forward lavatory for the first class passengers, which meant all passengers had to use the lavatories at the back of the plane.

There was a small line of about two people waiting to relieve themselves because the three lavatories were occupied. Brooke stood at the end and awaited her turn. The two people ahead of her got into the bathrooms as two others filed out of them.

Brooke had to go bad. When she had to pee, she really had to pee. Hurry up!, she thought to herself as she crossed her legs in a feeble attempt to hold it in.

Finally she saw the knob on the door turn from red to green, signaling that the stall was open for use.

Brooke got closer to the door, ready to enter as quickly as possible. The door opened and the person stepped out, accidentally bumping into her because she was so close to the door.

She looked up, clearly annoyed, but stopped short when she saw the face. Blonde spiked hair, crystal blue eyes, chiseled jaw.

Brooke bit the inside of her mouth to wake her up but nothing happened. There standing before her, gazing into her brown eyes, was the one the only…

"Lucas," she managed acting surprised. "Hi."