Hey guys! So… I'm posting this chapter, but after this, it MIGHT be a little while (Meaning maybe like a week and ½) before I post the next one. Right now we're filming episode 3.20… and working A LOT. Which means 12 hour days and no time to write… but filming ends April 5th… so after that, haha I'll be free to write all the time… so I just wanted to let you guys know, just in case I don't get a new chapter up until around the 22nd or something… But hey, think of it this way… the less I post now, the more you guys will have to read over the summer while OTH isn't on… So ENJOY this chapter and as always, THANKS for all the reviews!

"Brooke! Brooke… wake up… why are you on the couch?" Peyton asked walking into the living room to find Brooke hanging off the couch, almost on the floor. Not that she was surprised… if she were in Karen's position she wouldn't let them sleep in the same bed either…

"Karen wont let us in the same bed…"

"Ok… guess what!"

"What?" Brooke yawned feeling a little bit annoyed with Peyton. Here it was Christmas eve morning… early. And she and Lucas hadn't even gotten to bed until 3:45.

"Holy crap…" Peyton gasped catching a glance of the ring of Brooke's finger as she wiped her eyes. Completely forgetting what she was even going to say.

"How fabulous is it?"

"You've got that boy so whipped"

"It's not even the engagement ring…" Brooke whispered looking down at her ring. It looked even prettier during the day.

"Damn… anyway! Jake's in town"

"What!"

"I know! His mom called me… I'm going to see him later, I have to look hott" Peyton grinned getting back on topic. Brooke was definitely shocked. They hadn't heard from Jake in almost 2 years… and all of the sudden he was back? This couldn't be good… at least not for Peyton. She'd finally almost gotten over him… she was happy, and she and Nathan were so close… at least to something.

"What about Nathan?"

"What do you mean what about Nathan? Nathan has Haley, I have Jake and you have Lucas… that's how's its always been"

"So true…I'm so happy for you! Now if we can just get Naley back in the sack" Brooke sighed not really in the mood to argue or spoil Peyton's good moon. She deserved to at least enjoy the thought of her and Jake for a little while… and who knows. Maybe it would work this time.

"What should I wear?"

"Um… well nothing always works for Lucas… ask him about last night"

"Woah…" Peyton laughed guessing from the ring… they had probably had sex last night.

"In the car… and some other places that probably weren't the greatest idea…"

"Other places?"

"We tried sneaking in the window… fell on the counter and it seemed like a good place at the time" Brooke whispered giving Peyton a look that said 'Don't ever try this'. Even Brooke who usually didn't regret all the crazy things she and Lucas did was starting to wish the kitchen counter hadn't been there… it always seemed to work so well in movies…

"Karen catch you?"

"Hints why I'm on the couch"

"That bad?" Peyton cringed trying to imagine how bad that one had been.

"I think I lost my bra in the river…"

"You were in the river"

"Actually no… that's the weird thing" Brooke sighed still trying to figure out how it had gotten there.

"Ok… me Jake…"

"Right… grow some boobs and you can wear my clothes"

"Not all of us were blessed with DD's Brooke" Peyton laughed as Brooke stuck her tongue out at her. It was like being home, back in Tree Hill made them all completely different people. Like they were in high school. It wasn't until now that Peyton realized how much college had really changed them all.

"Hey… they can be a curse"

"I bet Lucas would beg to differ"

"Beg to differ what?" Lucas asked walking in just as Peyton finished her sentence, he looked as tired as Brooke.

"You like Brooke's boobs"

"Yea I'm gonna go get some breakfast"

"That Asshole!" The front door opened, and there was Nathan… looking as pissed off as ever. It made Brooke wonder if The Keller was back in town.

"How's it going Nate?"

"I went to see Haley this morning… you know to take her a present… and she was making out with this old guy!"

"What is going on in here!" Karen yelled bursting into the room. It sounded like a hoe down in there with all the laughing and yelling and cussing…

"Um…Lucas likes my boobs, Peyton's going to see Jake naked and she doesn't have boobs, Haley's kissing old guys and not Nathan, and Nathan smells like…cheap cologne and I'm pretty sure he probably likes my boobs too, and I think I have a splinter in my ass…"

"How'd?"

"Picnic table…" Brooke whispered, trying to figure out why that had seemed like such a good idea at the time too…

"I don't even…after last night I've seen and heard just about enough of you guy's nakedness, making out and" Karen started but Brooke really wasn't in the mood to hear this lecture again… not after the one they had gotten last night.

"I told you I was not naked! I had on my fabulous ring…"

"It's Christmas eve!"

"And I told you that too! Lucas and I were celebrating… our love for everything Christmasy…" Brooke smiled as Karen shot her a death glare.

"On my kitchen counter"

"It got in our way"

"Can we get back to Haley here?" Nathan asked apparently not the least bit interested in Brooke and Lucas's issues with Karen… or Peyton and Jake.

"Its ok Nate… if she was kissing him that means he doesn't like her, she said she'd only stay with him if he wasn't serious about her. Personally I think she's still way into you"

"Right, is that how you show Lucas you want him? By sticking your tongue down old guys throats?"

"No… I stick it down his, but that's totally besides the point" Brooke said trying to explain Nathan what was going on… without letting him know what she had been in on it.

"Why?"

"Because we're together… see Nathan that's when 2 people who are in love, are in a relationship with each other, and not other people"

"Did that make any sense to anyone?" Nathan asked. Now Brooke had Karen and Nathan glaring at her…

"Shut up, I've got splinters… the pains making me devious"

"Delirious?"

"See… I can't even talk… Lucas, make them stop picking on me!" Brooke whined trying to get Lucas out of the kitchen so he could at least he on her side in all of this.

"Ok, Nathan… go talk to Haley, Peyton go see Jake… Lucas you're here with your grandparents today and Brooke and I are going shopping" Karen finally said, annoyed with all the people in her house this early in the morning.

"Wh…"

"I've got some last minute shopping to do and you and I need to catch up, now go get ready"

"Ok…" Brooke sighed giving Lucas a pleading look. Christmas was supposed to be about fun and hanging out with her friends… not a stressful day of Christmas shopping with psycho hormonal Karen. But she decided not to argue on this one… instead just go take a shower.

"Mom…"

"Lucas calm down… when Brooke lived here we talked all the time"

"She wasn't my girlfriend then…" Lucas said, know that that… plus the fact that Karen was all over the place was why she was taking their relationship so hard.

"Even more of a reason we should go shopping now, are you scared I'm going to kill her or something…"

"I wouldn't be surprised…" Lucas muttered giving up…

"I heard that… go make breakfast for your grandparents"

"I was going to take a shower…"

"Brooke's in the shower… Lucas, damn it! Do you 2 think of anything else? One day you're going to have responsibilities! There wont be time for any of this… And if you keep this up you're going to have some un-wanted responsibilities… and I'll tell you that neither of you are ready for that" Karen said giving Lucas a stern serious look. The kind he used to get when he'd done something really bad.

"Mom… I don't need the sex lecture… and we have 2 showers…"

"Right"

Brooke spent the rest of the morning shopping with Karen. It actually wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. As it turned out as long as Lucas wasn't around they got along pretty well. Karen told her all about the names she was thinking about for the baby, and how she was worried about how Lucas would adjust… it wasn't until they met up with Mouth that things got a little interesting. They hadn't even planned to shop with him… but Brooke and Karen both felt bad for him seeing him try to shop for his family alone.

"Look at those cute little clothes…" Karen smiled looking into the window of one of the baby boutiques downtown. It was full of flowery little pleated dresses and pants that made Brooke's head hurt… who in their right mind would ever do that to a child?

"I can't wait to get married and have kids"

"Having Lucas was the happiest day of my life…"

"I want at least 5" Mouth laughed, knowing he was going to have to find a good woman to give him that many.

"I wanted 7 when I was younger, what about you Brooke?"

"I… I'm not really a baby person so much… I mean you have to get fat, and buy all these clothes you'll never wear again… plus you can't drink… and I hear it's not pleasant to give birth…" Brooke cringed at just the thought. The looks on Mouth and Karen's faces weren't good ones. But she hadn't expected them to be, she'd actually been avoiding this conversation with Karen for a while now, knowing it wasn't going to be a good one.

"So you don't want to have kids?"

"Not really, no…"

"But you know Lucas wants them right?" Karen asked. This worried her, a lot. No… she'd never seen Brooke as the motherly type, but she'd always assumed if she married Lucas she'd grow into the idea… but from the sound of things, that didn't seem like something that was going to happen.

"Yea, and just because I don't physically want to have them doesn't mean we cant like… adopt one day… long, long from now"

"But it's not the same Brooke, there's something about having your own baby that… I don't know… carrying it makes you love it that much more"

"It didn't make my parents love me… besides, I'd hate to think of what things would be like for all of those kids Lucas and I work with, if everyone thought like you. Because you feel the need to get fat, and have your baby… those kids get punished." Brooke said, trying to be as nice as possible about this. She didn't see what the big deal was… Lucas knew this, and he was fine with it… so what was Karen's problem?

"Have you and Lucas even discussed this?"

"He knows how I feel… I'm not going to bring a baby into this world that I'm not even sure I'd want… its not fair anyone involved, I wont be my mother Karen"

"So… how's volunteering going?" Mouth asked feeling how intense this conversation was getting. It was definitely time for a subject change, anything to keep Karen from scratching Brooke's eyes out.

"You should see Lucas with the little boys… its hilarious. He's trying to teach them to play basketball. And there is the coolest little girl there… I named her Ella, and I am so in love with this kid. She's like 1, and has the greatest hair ever… plus she's so tiny, and as much as it sucks working there, every time I walk in she gives me this huge hug and smiles… probably because I bring her like… everything she could ever want… but I swear this kid is like awesome"

"Where are her parents?"

"Some kind of huge stock holders in their early 40's with 3 grown children… I guess they just didn't want to do it a 4th time, and when she was born she was early… so no one really wanted a baby that was going to be stuck in the hospital for another 8 weeks… so she ended up there" Brooke sighed. Every time she thought about it, it made her sad. The fact that these people had had more than enough money and resources to keep her, and they still left her.

"So… you love this kid because she has good hair, but you couldn't love one that you and Lucas made together"

"Karen… I didn't say that. Why are we even talking about this? I'm 19! I cant even think about kids right now… besides, last time I checked you weren't exactly thrilled with the idea of Lucas and I having kids… ever"

"I just think you 2 are getting too serious, and you have no idea what the other one wants, Brooke he gave you a ring!" Karen yelled grabbing Brooke's hand and showing her the ring.

"Yes… and he also told me I could pick out my own engagement ring… like years from now! Karen we aren't stupid… we know we aren't ready for marriage or children or anything like that… right now we're just trying to live our lives and be happy without worrying about everything else… maybe you should try it, like you used to"

Lucas sat with Nathan at the kitchen table waiting for him to speak. They'd been like this for 10 minutes… so far, nothing. He wasn't even sure if Nathan had gone back to talk to Haley… if he had, things weren't looking good, and if he hadn't, maybe that was a good thing. Chances are Haley wasn't going to sugar coat it if she was with someone else. The only reason she was doing this was because of Nathan's date with Bevin over the summer. After that Haley had been doing pretty much everything possible to make him jealous. Whether it was because she loved him or not… Lucas didn't really even care anymore. It was getting old.

"She said they were just having fun" Nathan finally said, not looking up from the table. At least that was a start, although it was very un-Haley like… just having fun.

"Kind of like you and Bevin had fun?"

"I guess, I wasn't doing that to hurt her though… she said we could see other people!"

"Dude… did you not learn anything from Brooke's 'We should see other people' plan?" Lucas asked seeing that Nathan had made the same mistake he had. Maybe Brooke had been too much of an influence on Haley last year…

"You guys are together aren't you?"

"Yea, only because we both decided to forget all the crap the other one had done in the past and start over"

"I was reading this thing that said you shouldn't marry your high school sweetheart, that you cant grow as a person if you stay with the person who knew you then…" Nathan said, still looking down at the wooden table.

"Do you really believe that?"

"I was thinking about it… but I mean you and Brooke are completely immature when you aren't together, whiney and jealous and… you definitely weren't growing as people apart. And I didn't change until I was with Haley… and Peyton, she didn't start thinking about other people until Jake…"

"Maybe we were all just lucky to find who we loved in high school?" Lucas asked, trying to think of anything to make Nathan feel better. He really wasn't good at this… when Brooke was upset… all he had to do was hold her and let her cry, even with Haley growing up… that's all it took, but Lucas had never had to comfort a guy before.

"Or maybe that writers on crack… whatever it is, I want some, looks like they made it home alive"

"That's always a good sign…Hey mom, where's Brooke?"

"Making Mouth unload her stuff, sometimes I think that girl has no life skills" Karen laughed looking out the window as Brooke coaxed Mouth with bags and more bags of stuff she had bought.

"Hey… I taught her how to mop"

"And how many times has she actually done it?"

"The important thing is she know how… and she can order out… that's all I ask" Lucas laughed while Karen just shook her head at him.

"So when you're married and your house is a wreck?"

"We'll hire a maid?"

"And you're broke?" Karen asked, even though she knew neither of them would be… together or apart.

"We'll call you…"

"Yea… I've gotta go, thanks Luke" Nathan said getting bored with Karen and Lucas's conversation.

"Talk to Haley"

"Whatever"

"Or… do what my mom taught me, the best way to get over someone, is to get under someone else" Lucas laughed knowing that would get under Karen's skin, and maybe at least lighten her up a little bit.

"Lucas, how is it you'd forget to clean your room, make the bed and be home on time… but you still remember that?"

"Thanks Luke… Maybe I'll do that"

"See mom, it could be worse…" Lucas said as Nathan shut the door behind him.

"At least Haley knows how to mop"

Peyton sat in Bluepost with her drink at the bar. This had to be the worst day of her life? How could she let herself get excited over Jake? Jake… the man who'd had to leave her twice, she should have known it couldn't work… it that in the time he'd been gone that he might find someone else… it just hurt that he had. Seeing him as she walked up to his yard. Standing on his doorstep with Jenny… and the girl beside him. She didn't even look like Jake's type… blonde straight hair, rail thin, boobs. She looked so superficial. So… not Jake. And the way she played with Jenny… and hugged Jake before she left… Peyton felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart. All that time waiting for him, dreaming of him coming home… and he'd found someone else. Peyton heard someone sit beside her, but didn't bother to look up. It was probably just some guy who was having just as sucky of a Christmas eve as she was.

"Things didn't go well I take it" Nathan asked. He figured he'd find Peyton here if things hadn't worked with Jake… and since he'd seen Jake at the park with Jenny… alone. He had taken that as a pretty clear sign.

"Hey…um, I don't really want to talk about it"

"Me either…"

"Shouldn't you be home with Dan… or your mom?" Peyton asked, wondering why Nathan was at a bar on Christmas Eve. Of course she knew why… but she didn't expect him to resort to Alcohol… especially after everything with his mom.

"Shouldn't you be with your dad?"

"I wasn't in the mood to explain my mood"

"Yea… same, you should go talk to Lucas… he's pretty helpful" Nathan laughed rolling his eyes at the wasted hour of Lucas advice. He knew Lucas was trying… but someone who had everything he wanted really couldn't help someone who had nothing.

"Really?"

"No… Sorry… sarcastic isn't working for me today, his best advice was for me to get under someone else"

"Funny… maybe he should have taken his own advice while he and Brooke were broken up" Peyton laughed. Lucas was so full of it sometimes. He tried to help… but when it came to him actually needing it… he was completely hopeless.

"Lucas doesn't take advice, he just gives it"

"Jake was with another girl"

"I'm sorry Peyton…" Nathan sighed, figuring it had been something like that. He couldn't see Jake hurt Peyton on purpose… he wasn't that kind of guy.

"Yea… I should have figured"

"I guess its time we both move on…"

"I don't know what I would have don't without you this year Nate…It reminded me of when we first started dating… before I was suicidal and you were an ass" Peyton laughed. She was trying to think of a way to thank Nathan without being too cheesy… and that's all that had come to her.

"At least we made it past those stages…"

"Wanna get out of here? Its Christmas Eve, we should be able to find something to do right?"

"Yea"

Brooke pranced into the kitchen to find something to eat, and as usual Lucas was in his favorite chair at the kitchen table… reading. Not that it surprised her that was Lucas. He was so into his book that he didn't even notice her when she came in. It didn't really bother her, she just found it funny that he that into a book… She tried slamming the cabinet a few times to get him to look up… but there was nothing. Then she tried the obviously fake cough a few times, and when that didn't work she left the room and came back in… what the hell was he reading that was that good?

"If you come back in one more time and slam the cabinet, that might get my attention" Lucas said still not looking up from his book. He wasn't really reading though, just thinking… but pretending to read was the only way he could get people to leave him a lone while he cleared his head.

"You suck…Mouth said bye, and next time you can carry my bags in"

"How much did you buy?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out… lets go do something" Brooke whined sitting in his lap. She was bored out of her mind and really wanted to get out of the house before Karen started cooking…

"Like what?"

"I don't know… Its Christmas eve… something fun, lets go on a walk"

"Its cold…" Lucas sighed dreading going outside… but he knew he was going to end up going anyway, Brooke had that desperate 'please take me look' on her face.

"Its supposed to be, Its Christmas eve, come on… you can tell me all about your Christmas's when you were little, and we can be totally after school special, hold hands and everything… it'll be fun, please? We can find mistletoe and be totally romantic…" Brooke whispered trailing off as she kissed him.

"I like mistletoe…"

"Me too… come on, before your mom decides she wants to sing Christmas Carols…"

"She mentioned that?" Lucas asked, suddenly the cold seemed a lot more tempting than having to sing Jingle Bells.

"A few times…"

"I'll get my coat"