Chapter Forty-Six: 'Tis The Season

"I think I'm going to call the travel agent today and book us tickets for New York," said Lucas. He was sitting on the couch with Brooke in front of him, writing out Christmas cards on the floor, idly playing with her dark hair.

"Why?" she asked distractedly.

"Because it's Christmas. And in New York they have actual snow," said Lucas convincingly.

Brooke frowned and dropped the pen she was using for the cards. Running her hands over the bump that had recently appeared, she once again pictured the big house in New York, and the thought of flying across the country to visit it.

By the time she pulled herself out of her reverie, Lucas had disappeared. Clutching the sofa to pull herself awkwardly upward, she followed him slowly.

"You know, we could do it here," she suggested, watching him as he began to wash the dishes.

"What?"

"Christmas. Here."

"Why? We always do it in New York," explained Lucas.

"If you hadn't yet noticed, no one's happy at the house in New York. We're happy here. We could get a ridiculously big tree. We could invite Haley," said Brooke. Lucas turned around and smiled.

"Nathan might not go for it," said Lucas.

"Ryan will, and she'll convince him. He does everything for them. You know that. And we'll invite Jake and Peyton. And pay for their air fare," she said excitedly.

"Are you doing this out of the goodness of your heart, or because you're shamelessly trying to hook up your best friend with you brother in law?" he asked suspiciously. She giggled and pulled down on the necklace around his neck.

"What do you think, silly?"

Ryan Scott dropped her school bag on the hardwood floor as she walked through the entrance hall. Slipping out of her school sweater, she put it on a table as she passed, calling out for her brother as she did so.

"Leigh?" she said desperately, into the seemingly empty space. The constant emptiness of her home always got to her.

No reassuring call came back to her. Sighing, Ryan doubled back into the kitchen and headed for the stainless steel fridge.

She pounced eagerly on the phone when it rang.

"Hello?" she said, attempting to sound calm.

"Ry? This is Brooke, is Nathan around?" came a cheery voice. Ryan frowned, her spirits dampened.

"No. I can take a message."

"Don't, it's you I want to talk to. About Christmas," explained Brooke. Ryan glanced around the dark house, and tried to think of a time it had looked less seasonal.

"Oh."

"Lucas said you guys always do it there, but I was thinking maybe you guys, and Jake and Peyton, could come out here and spend it with us," said Brooke.

"Seriously?" she said, her voice eager again. The prospect of spending Christmas tanning on a beach was more ideal than the thought of spending it with her distant little sister and her somber, brooding big brother.

"Yeah. You might have to convince Nate. You up for that?" she questioned.

"Completely. Incidentally, any other guests coming?" she said, forcing her voice to be sweet and unsuspecting.

"Think it's a bad idea?"

"No, it's genius. Uh, I think Leigh just came in. Talk to you later!" she said, hanging up the phone abruptly.

Haley shook her hair out, sending droplets of water and ice all over the room. She giggled. Since the first snowfall, it had been impossible to go outside and come back in completely dry.

"I'm going to take a shower," she said, directing her comment at the boy on her bed, recently christened her boyfriend. Seamus smiled.

"Cool. I'll be here," he said.

Haley's phone rang as she came back into the bedroom, and she dove for it.

"This is Haley's phone," she said.

"Haley? This is Brooke, I think we've met. Maybe sometime in the last thousand years," said Brooke sarcastically.

"Sorry, I've been a bad correspondent. What's up? Coming home for Christmas?" she asked, sitting down beside Seamus and brushing a brief kiss onto his lips.

"No. You're coming here," said Brooke, matter-of-factly. She frowned when Haley didn't respond, and quickly realized what was going on.

"Mm. What?" said Haley, losing herself, with effort, in his kiss.

"Christmas. Here. Christmas with the Scotts," said Brooke. This shocked Haley sufficiently.

"Brooke, I can't. I can't see…"

"And you won't. Nathan is taking the girls to Florida. We did Thanksgiving here, so the plan was to do Christmas here, but I didn't want to visit the dark mansion. Come on, Jake and Peyton are coming," whined Brooke.

"I'm a freshman, Brooke. I'm broke."

"We're footing the bill. What else is the point of marrying well?" asked Brooke. Haley smiled, and glanced briefly at Seamus.

"Brooke, I can't," she protested weakly.

"You have to. I'm all big now. And Peyton and Jake are adorable, you should see them. And we have the nicest place here. Pleeease," she begged. Haley sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'll be there," she promised.

Later that day Peyton Sawyer received a similar phone call, one she submitted to much more easily. After all, cold and snowy New York was beginning to get to her. She didn't particularly want to spend Christmas with her family. After all, Haley, Brooke, and Jake were her family. They always had been.

She found Jake in their bedroom, sleeping off the exhaustion from his exams. Smiling, she dropped onto the bed and rolled over until she was right next to him, lying on her stomach. Peyton wondered briefly how much he'd mind spending Christmas in LA in a holiday concentrated toward hooking up an unsuspecting Haley with Nathan.

"Wake up," she whispered, her emotions catching up with her. Slowly he roused himself and ran a hand through his brown curls, feeling disoriented.

"Hey. What's up?" he asked, surprised to see her there with him.

"How do you feel about LA for Christmas?" she asked nervously.

"Okay, who's amazing?" asked Brooke of Lucas, as she wandered into the living room and encountered him sitting on a chair, reading a book.

"I'm guessing it's you," he said, taking her hand and pulling her down onto his lap.

"It's completely me. They're both coming next week. Peyton and Jake are going to be there to inject some nice normal coupledom. Ryan and Leigh can spend the entire time partying on the beach. They aren't going to know what hit them," said Brooke blissfully.

"I can't believe they don't suspect you," said Lucas.

"Please, I'm much too good for that. Do you think that accidentally assigning them to the same room would be going too far?"

Lucas raised his eyebrows in disbelief, wondering what on Earth he'd managed to get himself in to.