Hey everybody! Thanks for reviewing (and for not sending the angry townspeople after me) for the last chapter. Also, thanks for the lack of hate mail. Lol. Especially thanks to Amanda, because I'm having a really sucky day, and your review really made me laugh. To Brucas69, yes, it was a little over the top, but there's a method to the madness lol. There's lots more drama to come, but right now, I bear the gift of fluffy brucas-ness. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I especially don't own One Tree Hill, anything associated with it, or Bright Eyes, or the song A Perfect Sonnet… because if I did, I'd probably be a lot more successful…

At The Heart of It All

Chapter Fifteen

Wreck Of The Day

The house was too damn thick! Brooke and Haley had been attempting to eavesdrop on Lucas and Anna from the second they had returned from the court, but they couldn't hear anything. They had tried the walls, the doors, using glasses. The friends had tried just about everything, but they had no clue as to what was going on inside Lucas's bedroom. And so, the two brunettes were currently sitting on the floor of Karen's bedroom, playing Go Fish.

"Got any twos?"

"Go fish. Got any fours?"

"Go fish. Got any better ideas on what to play?"

"Go fish." Haley said, making both of the girls crack up. However, Haley noticed that Brooke seemed slightly… distracted. And it wasn't very hard to figure out why.

"I'm sure that they're not having sex."

"What!" Brooke yelped, startled.

"Nothing's going on between them, Tigger! You saw just as clearly as I did how stunned he looked when he came into the house. It was like he was sleep walking. Besides, I'm thinking we would hear something… unless it's just not good."

"It's not that," Brooke responded distractedly, deep in thought and missing the pointed, questioning look her newest friend shot at her. "I'm just really worried about him, you know? I mean, she's Anna! She's like a legend here. Some days she feels more like she was always a myth instead of a person. Just say the word and Luke's out of control."

"She really messed him up," Haley nodded in agreement.

"That she did. Urghh! I hate her! Bitch!" Brooke pummeled her pillow.

"That's maturity Brooke," Haley teased.

"Shut up Tutor Girl!"

"Love you too."

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Luke couldn't believe his eyes. Or ears. None of his senses seemed to be working properly. He must be having a malfunction, because it seemed that Anna was sitting in front of him on his bed, saying something along the lines of an apology, and stroking his hand. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Nope, she was still there.

"Lucas? Are you listening?"

"Um… yeah."

"Well, I just poured my heart out to you! Give me some sort of reaction here!"

"Anna… what the hell are you doing here?" he asked, withdrawing from her.

"Well, I'm back in town for personal reasons. But I'm here, with you, because I feel like that's where I always should've been. Lucas, I love---"

"LUKE!" Brooke crashed through the door, Haley hot on her tail. He looked up at her expectantly. How did she constantly have the perfect timing? She was always his savior.

"There's a… um… game show on?" Haley stuttered, her tone questioning at the end. She bit her lip, trying really hard not to laugh, but the expression on Anna's face made that very hard. Looking at Brooke, she thought it was safe to say the same for her.

"That's nice, Hannah. Now, if you don't mind, Lucas and I were in the middle of a really important, really personal conversation, so you can just---"Anna began, her tone condescending.

"My name is Haley," she said, eyes blazing, teeth gritted, all traces of laughter gone to her face. Haley was a sweet girl most of the time, but everybody knew not to mess with her.

"Her name is Haley," Brooke nodded, trying to lighten the mood a little. Lucas met her eyes and cracked a grin. Mission accomplished.

"Anyway Broody, like our pal Haley here said, the game show is on. Wanna watch?"

"Erm, Brooke, I'm sure he can catch your game show later, we're talking about something much more important and—"Anna started, her irritation clear.

"There is nothing more important than this game show! It's a new episode! Besides, I'm sure that if this conversation could wait the year and a half that you left Lucas here, it can wait a few more days!"

"Brooke, this is really none of your business!"

"Yes, it is," a calm, quiet voice rang in the room, and all the girls stopped their bickering to look at the source. Anna's face fell, Brooke's light up, and Haley smiled in amusement at the scene before her. She had never told anybody about it before, but she had always loved soap operas, and even those cheesy teen melodramas they have on at night. And this was a soap opera if she'd ever seen one.

Brooke had softly laid her hand on Lucas's shoulder for comfort, and didn't allow her face to register surprise when he took her hand and used it to gently pull her down onto the chair with him. He lightly kissed her knuckles, and Brooke snuggled in closer to him. Anna raised her eyebrows, and her body language seemed to radiate anger, demanding a response.

"Brooke's my girlfriend now, Anna."

And it was her turn to be shocked.

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They lay entwined on the living room sofa, as they had so many times before. She faced away from him, head on his chest. His large hand stroked her side, gently entangling with her hair, then moving it down again. Brooke gave a contented sigh as she moved closer to him. Lucas had always enjoyed these nights, where Brooke would refrain from partying and stay home with him and just watch movies. Of course, the cuddling didn't hurt. However, tonight the atmosphere wasn't light. There was an elephant in the room, and Anna made for a hell of a large one.

"You wanna talk about it? I think that the game shows are over anyway," she whispered turning her head to look him in the eye, a little smile tugging at her lips. She could feel him quiver a little behind her, and knew what she should do. Brooke caught him off-guard when she rolled over and found herself on top of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lay forehead to forehead with him. Physical closeness was something she could understand.

"You know Cheery… we should get married one day," he said softly, moving her hair out of her eyes.

"Humm… that was random. Reasoning?" she asked with raised eyebrows, laughter in her voice.

"Because I've never been as comfortable with anybody as I am with you. And aren't you supposed to be best friends with the person you marry? Well, half-way there."

"Very true. Although I think you're supposed to want to get married, then become best friends… but we'll exclude that part, since I'm not sure."

"And you're pretty hot. So we don't have to worry about the kids being ugly."

"Also true. Haha… this is actually starting to sound like a good idea. Okay, agreed, we'll get married when we're older."

"Okay."

"Remember when I found you after she left?" Brooke changed the subject, a shift to a deeper, darker one that he'd obviously rather avoid.

"Um, yes."

"You were playing that song… the one about the sonnet…"

"A Perfect Sonnet… Bright Eyes."

"Yeah, that one. I love that song now."

"Huh."

"Yeah…after Felix and I were over, I listened to it a lot. It kind of made sense. The whole heartbroken aspect."

"Brooke…"

"I know its hard Broody. But just know that I'm here when you're ready to talk again. It's weird with her back. But I'll always be here for you."

"I know," he said quietly, playing with her hand.

Her eyes locked on his as they spoke. He had always been able to do that, to pierce her with his stare, to penetrate her soul. She would've hated it if it was anyone else, but Lucas was an exception to all where Brooke was concerned.

It was about half an inch, he calculated. Half an inch between their lips, and if he moved just a little bit, they would be kissing…again. After Anna had left in a huff, and Haley had awkwardly excused herself, saying that she was needed at the café, she and their kiss were all he had been thinking about. She was so beautiful, she really was. And she was also intelligent, and charismatic, and she made him laugh, and she was so loyal. She always knew just what he needed, as she had shown many times that day. Lucas really did wonder how he got so lucky as to have a girl like her care about him (although some might wonder how he got so lucky as to have Brooke Davis lying on top of him). And so he did it, he did it on impulse, he inclined his chin a little bit, and their lips were touching.

They kissed slowly and languidly. She sucked slowly on his bottom lip, until he flipped them over so that he was on top. Brooke let out a little giggle at this action (How macho, she thought with a little eye-roll) until his lips came down upon hers once more, and she felt herself becoming a little light-headed as he began stroking her skin. Eventually, they broke apart slowly, him licking her lips, and they smiled at each other. They made the easy transition back to their former positions. For a moment in time, they were perfect… but then Brooke spoke.

"Broody, I know that the timing on this sucks… especially because that was so amazing… but as your honorary best friend, and as of now, future wife, and current fake girlfriend and apparent lover—"

"Which is very nice."

"It is… but you need to tell me how you feel about Anna coming back. I don't want you to keep this stuff bottled up Luke. It'll make you even more broody, and I don't think the world is big enough for all this mopey-ness. I think you're trying to keep yourself in denial about the whole thing, and I care about you waaaaaaay too much to let that happen."

His eyes darkened, and Brooke thought for a second that his walls had gone back up. She leaned over and nuzzled her nose against his, then moved down and placed her lips against his neck, and laced her fingers with his, stroking his hand, gently coaxing the truth out of him. She wasn't that surprised when his body began to shake underneath her. The tears dropping onto the shoulder of her shirt didn't bother her. She hadn't really seen Lucas like this since the time when they were so much younger, and he had realized for the first time what had really happened with Dan and Karen. Brooke had held him through the night then, and she knew that she would do it again tonight, and every hard night to come.

"She's back Brookie… she's really here. I saw her… you saw her… I felt her. God Brooke, she's really here," he sobbed into her shoulder. She knew it was going to be a long night, but she really didn't care. She might be late for school tomorrow. She may not show up at all. He could cry all the tears he needed to, bawl right into the morning. Brooke was there for Lucas. Period.

. : bites lip nervously:. What do you guys think? I've got some super-mixed feelings on this chapter, and it was really hard to crank out, so any feedback is uber-appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Xo Sam