Chapter Twenty-Three: Perfectly Aligned

As she listened to her best friend obsess about her failed first date, Brooke couldn't help but let her mind wander.

She was disappointed that Haley and Nathan had made such a mess of what should have been a summer romance to make history, but Brooke couldn't help but think that she'd made a bigger mess of her own.

Lucas Scott. What had started out as a fling had become so much more, so quickly. After Mouth, she'd never had anyone she could trust, or depend on. And all it had taken to unravel was Mouth himself.

Brooke still couldn't let herself fully regret her actions. Mouth was her first love. He had a part of her Lucas could never have.

"Brooke, you're not even listening," complained Haley.

"Sorry," she said.

"You're thinking about Lucas again, aren't you?" asked Haley suspiciously.

"Yeah. I don't think he's ever coming back," said Brooke.

"If I was you I'd be obsessing a lot more about the potential child thing," said Haley. Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, Hales."

"Anytime. Of course Lucas is coming back. He loves you, remember? He's just… confused," said Haley inadequately.

"How long are you going to torture Nathan?"

"Forever. I keep thinking he's changed, and he never has. It's not going to happen," she said firmly.

"Shut up. It's a matter of time," said Brooke, looking incredibly pained. Haley frowned, realized that she was being self absorbed, and slipped an arm around her best friend's shoulders.

"You want to talk about you now?" she asked sympathetically. Brooke immediately burst into her tears and rested her head on Haley's shoulder.

"I never wanted to hurt him…" she began, once again sobbing out the sad tale of her and Lucas.

Brooke sighed once more as she slowly drove home in her car. She'd been relying on Haley's romance to make her vicariously fulfilled, but of course Nathan and Davis had to mess things up again. Brooke wished desperately that she didn't have to go home at the end of every day to the large, empty house with all the room for her thoughts.

Her heart stopped when she climbed out of her car and saw Lucas waiting for her, sitting on the front steps. Slowly she walked toward him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I missed you," he said simply. Brooke spoke quickly.

"I missed you too!" she said.

"So I guess we've covered the obvious. Now can we cover they "why"?" he asked, his face emotionless. Brooke sighed and lowered herself onto the porch steps beside him.

"There's no way you're going to like this, you know? Mouth was my first love. We met the summer before freshman year, when everyone was off at summer camp, so I was alone. He moved in across the street, and we started spending all our time together. We were perfect until school started. I became a cheerleader, and he became an AV geek. I still loved him but it was just too hard, so we broke up in November. He stuck around for a few months, but then suddenly he disappeared. He wrote me two weeks later to say he'd moved away with his parents. I wrote him back but he never replied," said Brooke.

"What about…"

"Shut up, I'm getting there. So I changed. I started hooking up with random guys. In grade ten I became Captain of the cheerleading squad, and convinced Haley and Peyton to join with me. We were invincible. I never even let myself think about him until he showed up a couple weeks ago," said Brooke.

She paused and looked sideways at him.

"I thought he was just coming to visit, but it turned out he has this blood disorder that's killing him. I went there, and discovered that part of me still loved him, but I didn't sleep with him because of that. He was just so sad, Luke. He had nothing in his life. He'd been empty for years, and I couldn't let him die like that," said Brooke. Lucas was silent for a long moment. Brooke held her breath. "And I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry I hurt you."

"You know I know I should walk away right now, and move on, but I can't," he said slowly. Brooke's eyes widened in surprise.

"Luke, what are you really doing here?" she asked.

"I came to get my girl, of course," he said. As she leaned in to kiss him, she couldn't help but think of what she hadn't yet told him.

"You mean..?"

"I committed an indiscretion myself. I'd call us even," he said. She smiled at him.

"I think I love you, Lucas Scott," she said in wonder. He moved his face close to hers, and locked eyes.

"I know I love you, Brooke Davis," he said. Brooke raised her eyebrows, and scrunched her nose a second later. He smiled.

"That wasn't remotely corny," she joked.

"Way to ruin the moment," he said. She leaned in and they kissed again. "Mm, wait a second. I have one more serious announcement to get through."

"I'm scared now," she said.

"Don't be. Brooke. My life's in LA. It can't be here, as much as I want you in my life," he began.

"Okay…"

"I'm not breaking up with you. Rather the opposite, actually. Will you come with me? I mean, move in with me?" he asked.

"To LA? With you?"

"Yeah. I have a place there. You'd fit, it's big. We can party every night. Or not. Whatever you want. And Haley will be visiting on the breaks, so you'll see her a lot," said Lucas.

"Why? Nathan and Haley aren't together. Nathan slept with Davis again and she freaked."

"Idiot. Whatever, she can visit us. Will you come?" he asked.

"Of course." Brooke's eyes were shining. Everything was coming together perfectly. Everything, except…

"What's wrong?" he asked, pulling away.

"Someone messed with my birth control the day I slept with Mouth," she blurted out.

Lucas stared. For the longest, most interminable minute in her life, the man Brooke loved just stared, his face once again free of emotion. Free of hurt, pain, regret. As tears once again began to leak from her eyes, he didn't say a word.

"Say something," she begged.

"I can't blame you. We can work it out," he said eventually.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"No one ever said it was going to be easy."

Brooke stared into space, wondering if it would be even possible. Was Lucas merely suspecting that they'd break up before she was big, before it would matter? Even if he did love her, how could they possibly work past such a huge thing as a baby? For a moment, Brooke desperately wished the child out of existence.

"It was Davis, wasn't it," said Lucas.

"I don't know. I don't care that much. Even if it was her, I can't do anything about it. She's my cousin," said Brooke sadly.

"I guess she went back to LA?" said Lucas.

"No. She stayed around and ruined whatever Nathan and Haley had going for them," she said.

"Davis has a thing with bringing people down. I'd say she was a good person, deep down, but I really don't believe that she is," said Lucas.

"Peyton thinks so."

"What?" asked Lucas in surprise. In his misery, his mind had never so much as strayed to the blonde he'd once thought he had such a connection to.

"Peyton and Davis. They're together like all the time now. Haley and I haven't even talked to Peyton in like week," said Brooke.

"Good old Davis. Can't stop till she's brought everyone down," said Lucas.

"Do you think that's all it is?"

"Davis doesn't really go for friends. Or girls, last time I checked," said Lucas.

"Check again," said Brooke softly, nestling into her lover's arms and remembering the image that Jake had conjured for Nathan and Haley.