Brooke was working on a sketch for a sundress for girls when she noticed a white Explorer pull into her driveway. Mouth climbed out of the SUV and Brooke stood up from the white wicker couch.

"Hey." Mouth said as he approached the porch steps.

"Hey Mouth." Brooke replied. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good." Mouth returned. He seemed a little nervous about something.

"So where's Noelle?"

"Oh, she's with my parents. I had some errands to run."

Brooke nodded her head and asked, "So what's up?"

Mouth pulled his hands out from his jean pockets and stepped up on the porch.

"Well," he said, " I was wondering if you might want to, maybe, have dinner with me this weekend?"

The request surprised Brooke, though she wasn't sure why it did. She remembered Mouth suggesting that they spend time alone together. But this soon? And dinner? Was he suggesting a date? Was she even ready to date again? But he couldn't be asking her out on a date, right? They were just friends. They had been good friends for a while. He probably just wanted to have dinner out somewhere and talk.

"Um, sure." Brooke replied nervously and not completely confident in her answer. "That sounds great."

Mouth sighed relief and said, "Great. So how about Friday night? We can meet at my place and I'll coo k you dinner?"

"Wow, you cook?" Brooke said, with a smile.

"My dad taught me. So what do you say? Friday night? Seven o'clock?"

Maybe he was asking her on a date. She already said yes. It would be okay, wouldn't it?

"Sure." She agreed again.

"Great." Mouth said, smiling and less nervous. "Okay, well then I'd better go. I have some more things to do, but I'll call you later about Friday."

"Okay." Brooke said as Mouth stepped off the porch. "I'll talk to you late, I guess."

Jake peeked in the bedroom, before pushing open the door and walked inside the master bedroom with a tray of food and a mug of dandelions, fresh picked from the grass outside. He put the tray on Peyton's dresser and sat down on the bed. He smiled as he watched his wife sleep. He moved her blond hair from her face, kissed her lips, and then whispered, "Rise and shine, gorgeous. It's time to wake up."

Slowly, Peyton began to awaken. She smiled when she saw Jake smiling back at her.

"Good morning. " He said. "Did you sleep well?"

" I certainly did." Peyton replied as she sat up. " Did you?"

"Oh, of course. I was sleeping next to you."

Peyton smiled and she and Jake both leaned in for a kiss.

When they stopped, Jake stood up and said, "Okay, are you ready for breakfast?"

"Wow, breakfast in bed? I must be really special."

"You are." Jake said as he set the tray over Peyton's legs.

"Ooh, yum." Peyton said. "This smells so-ow!"

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Calm down, Jake, I'm okay. The baby just kicked really hard and it surprised me."

Jake smiled and Peyton chuckled.

" So I'm taking the girls out to lunch and a movie with my parents today." Jake said as he sat down again. " Are you going to be okay here by yourself?"

"Yeah." Peyton replied through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. " I can work on the strip I have due for the magazine and if I get bored I'll just watch some TV or listen to some music."

"Are you sure you won't get lonely? I feel bad about leaving you home alone in bed."

"Oh, but I won't be alone. This baby is pretty active today, apparently. I'll be fine, honey. Besides, Brooke and Haley said they were going to come see me today. You just go and have fun with the kids today."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too." Peyton said before kissing Jake again.

"Knock, knock." Haley said loudly as she and Brooke entered Peyton's home.

"In the bedroom." They heard Peyton bellow from down the hall. She tossed her sketchbook aside on the end table and waited for her friends to enter her bedroom. Finally, they did.

"Hey guys." She said as she adjusted her pillows.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Haley asked as she set her purse and keys on Peyton's dresser.

"I feel great. How about you?" Peyton asked as Haley sat at the foot of the bed and Brooke sat down next to Peyton.

"Pretty good for being twelve weeks pregnant." Haley replied. "However, I am a little anxious about how much I'm showing this much already. I mean, this could be a big baby if it's already proving its existence at three months. Unless I'm further along than I was told. Or it's twins. God, that'd bring so much more worry."

Peyton and Brooke both chuckled and Peyton said, " Hey, at least you don't look like I do. I'm huge."

"I don't know. At the rate I'm going, I could be bigger than you are at eight months."

"You'd better be careful then or that growing baby of yours might let daddy know that he's going to be a daddy again." Brooke said.

Haley smiled and said, " Oh yeah, that's right. Well, I don't have to worry, actually, because Nathan is excited about becoming a daddy again."

"What? You told him?" Peyton asked, a smile spreading across her face."

"Sort of."

"What do you mean sort of?" Brooke asked with a chuckle.

"Well he, um, he accidentally found my last sonogram photo and confronted me with it right before I was about to finally tell him."

"Awe," Peyton chanted, "Well, at least he knows now, right?"

"Yes. And I am so glad he does. We spent hours talking that night and we understand each other now. And it turns out, Nathan has wanted another baby just as much as I have."

"That's great, Hales." Brooke said.

"Thanks." Haley replied with a smile. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"I don't know." Peyton answered. " I'm up for anything at this point."

"Oh, I know what we can do." Brooke announced. "I need some ideas for a them for Lilly's fifth birthday party in a couple of weeks."

"Oh yeah, " Peyton remembered. " Wow, I can't believe she's turning five already."

"You can't? What about me? I'm her mother and I fell so strange as the mother of a five year old. My baby is growing up so fast."

She rested her head on Peyton's shoulder and Peyton patted her as if she were a dog seeking affection.

"Well maybe you could do like a Tea Party or butterfly and fairy themed party or something else she's really into right now." Haley suggested.

" Yeah, that's what I was thinking too." Brooke said. " Maybe I'll do that whole fairy thing. She's really, really into that right now. Well, besides dogs, which she's been into since she was two."?

"Oh, well then maybe you should invite all the dogs in the neighborhood and have a dog themed party." Peyton said, smiling widely.

" I don't think so. One dog is enough."

"Um, Brooke, " Haley said, "You don't have a dog."

"No, but I will in a couple of weeks." Brooke sighed. " Lilly has been begging me for months to get her a dog and I've been putting it off."

"James has been begging Nathan and I for a dog too." Haley mentioned.

"Well anyway, you guys know Kate from work? Well, I was telling her I wanted to get a dog for Lilly, but I didn't know what kind to get or where to get one, and she said that her dog just had a litter of puppies and one puppy still needs a home. So she offered the puppy to me for free."

"Wow, that's great." Haley said.

"Yeah, great deal, huh?" Brooke said, smiling.

"What kind of puppy is it?" Peyton wondered.

"I think she said it is a Yorkshire terrier."

"Oh, those dogs are so cute!" Haley said excitedly. " And they're small too. Perfect for her age."

"Really?" Brooke said, squinting her eyes. "I've never heard of them until now. But I'm picking her up next week."

"Wow, Lilly is going to love you." Peyton said.

"She already loves me. She's just going to be very happy this particular birthday. Speaking of Lilly, um, are either of you free on Friday night?"

"I'll be home, obviously." Peyton said, resting her hands on her stomach.

"Nathan and I will be home too, but my parents are going to be in town for the weekend and they're staying with us so they can have more time to visit."

"Why?" Peyton asked Brooke. " Do you need someone to watch Lilly?"

"Yeah," Brooke replied, nodding her head, "and I would've asked Karen and Keith, but they're leaving for Charleston tomorrow for the whole weekend."

"Well she can hang out here with Jake and me and the girls."

"Are you sure? Because I know you're not supposed to handle stress right now and I can always cancel—

"No," Peyton interrupted, " don't cancel. It'll be fine having Lilly here for a couple of hours, even if it's Jenny watching her. Jenny wants to start babysitting and maybe watching Lilly while we're here too would be a good way for her to start. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Brooke sighed. "If it's okay with you, it's okay with me."

"So where are you going anyway?" Haley wondered.

"Nowhere." Brooke replied. "I'm hanging out here with you guys."

Peyton and Haley glanced at each other, and then looked back at Brooke.

Peyton laughed and said, "On Friday, Brooke. You said you need someone to watch Lilly for you Friday night. What are you doing?"

"Oh, yeah, that. Sorry. Well, um…I'm sort of having dinner with Mouth."

Haley and Peyton smiled again and Peyton said, "Wow…and would this be like a dinner date?"

"No." Brooke answered immediately. " I mean, yeah, maybe…oh, I don't even know if it is or isn't. Mouth just asked to have dinner with him on Friday night."

"That sounds like a date to me." Haley said.

"Not necessarily." Brooke tried to argue. "It could just be two good friends having dinner."

"Brooke," Peyton said calmly, "Calm down. Why does it matter if this a date or not?"

Brooke sighed, "I don't know."

"Because of Lucas maybe?" Haley suggested understandably.

Brooke thought about it for a minute, the replied, " Yeah, I guess it is. But I don't think I know exactly why it's because of him that I feel weird, considering Lilly and I have been spending time with Mouth and Noelle since the reunion."

"Yeah, but now it's dinner alone with Mouth." Peyton reminded.

"So what? I mean, I used to spend time alone with Mouth all the time in high school. Why does it scare me so much now?"

"In high school, Lucas was alive." Haley began to explain. " And you hadn't realized you were in love with Lucas yet. Your feelings now are different then they were back then. Maybe you have a little more than feelings of friendship for Mouth now and that is making you nervous because you still love Lucas."

Brooke had been staring at Haley with her eyebrows furrowed in thought as she digested everything her sister-in-law explained to her.

"Wow, uh, you know me really well, don't you?" She said.

"We both do." Peyton said. " You're like our sister. So we understand why you're afraid to go out and be alone with Mouth. But you shouldn't let your love for Lucas keep you from acting on your feelings for Mouth because your love for Lucas will never go away."

Brooke leaked tears as she listened to her friends.

"She's right, Brooke. " Haley said. "You should go out with a Mouth and Friday night and have a good time. You want to, don't you?"

Brooke nodded her head and wiped tears from her cheeks and said, " Maybe, yeah, I think so." She said. " But I still love Lucas so much. I have never cared about anyone like I cared about Lucas and I never want to let him go or let go of everything I had with hi. I can't let him go. I can never forget him and I don't want to."

"You don't have to sweetie." Haley said softly as she moved up closer to Brooke and Peyton. " And you won't. It is so unbelievably impossible to forget a guy like Lucas, especially for you. And wherever he is now, I know that he knows how much you love him. But I also know that he would want you to do this."

"But how do you know that? And more, how do I know that?"

"You have to believe it." Peyton answered. "But deep down inside that big heart of yours, you already know. Don't run away from your feelings Brooke. You did that once with Lucas, remember? And you were so unhappy until you told him how you felt. So just give this thing with Mouth a chance. Otherwise, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what have happened and how he could've changed your life."

Brooke sniffled and said, "Thanks, you guys."

"Always." Haley said before she and Peyton both hugged Brooke.