Disclaimer: I owe nothing.
Okay so I should be updating my other fics, im working on it and hoping to do so over the next week or two, but I thought i'd do a quick one shot. years ago I had the idea of of this this what if story line, its out of charcter of brooke so i tried to fit it to her as much as i could. Sorry if the style of writing changes, lol, I hate editing and it ended up waaay longer than expected. I think at some point i went through a vortex and four hours went by without me knowing it. Anyway, enjoy.
For a second time stops, shock and surprise turns to a pleasure that neither could really explain. What were the chances? They thought as they slowly walk towards each other, drawn together as if gravity itself was directing them. A hug between friends, the slow rock of two people who haven't seen each other in far too long, he laughs at the coincidence and she stumbles a little as he pulls away to smile down at her.
Brooke's a little drunk already, she had been about to leave when Lucas walked through the door, and when he offers to buy her another drink she says yes. This wasn't the first time they had met here, both of them had come back to this particular bar and restaurant over the years, they'd planned it last time. If they thought a bit longer maybe they would concede that they had almost hoped to see the other tonight, those thoughts weren't the type of thoughts either one encouraged so they think about everything else.
It is easier than they would think to talk to each other, no one else they know is around, no partners, family or friends, and that was even rarer than them being in the same city at the same time. It's easy, too easy, and they find it easy to avoid talking about all the things they don't want to bring up and if either one notices the shaky smiles, that aren't completely sincere, they don't say so, why bring attention to the others lies when they are hiding their own.
They leave, walking down the street together with an ease neither has felt in the places they call home lately. It takes them a little too long to discover they're staying at the same hotel and though Lucas chuckles at the new coincidence Brooke feels something hitch inside her.
It could have been an awkward goodbye, riding the elevator together waiting to stop at his floor, its far from it though because they're talking, laughing, a silly story from so many years ago, so when the elevator door dings open they both eye the empty hallway with disappointment, laughter freezing on their lips. It seems like an innocent choice, to hold off that goodbye, he invites her into his hotel room, another drink or two, he can show off Sawyer's latest artwork, what is the harm. They think it will be as easy as that, they've been friends for so long, been apart for so long, they ignore the voice whispering at the back of their heads that they have never been very good at drawing lines in their friendship.
Eventually what they've been carefully avoiding comes around, they knew deep down it would happen, they knew the things they really wanted to say had been left unsaid.
It is a relief to get it out, to speak aloud what they hadn't told anyone else, the fears that haunted them on this long night. It started when she started playing with the diamond ring on her finger, his eyes had drawn to it and he had apologised for missing her wedding. The truth comes out, the secrets he has been hiding from everyone back in their home town. His marriage is falling apart, he doesn't know how it happened, how happiness and hope can flutter away so quickly. Unhappiness bred more happiness, for the first time Lucas tells someone other than their couples' therapist that his wife had cheated on him. Brooke's mouth drops open in shock yet its brief, her face begins to crumple in sympathy as Lucas finally gets out his emotions, all the things he wanted to say to Peyton but never did. Brooke finds it hard to believe and for some strange reason she feels oddly offended that her oldest friend had an affair with a co-worker, after everything Lucas and Peyton had been through. She pours him a drink and then pours herself another.
Brooke finds herself ranting about marriage, how you think the commitment is going to help protect you from all the little cracks, that it is some sort of protection from all the pain and crap in life. But it's not.
Lucas listens and his heart breaks for Brooke as she reveals she can't have children, tears running down her cheeks, he wants to wipe them away yet he remains silent and still. It's not fair, he thinks, for Brooke to not have the one thing she wants most in the world. She'd make a wonderful mother, a pain fills his chest, he wants to comfort her so badly that he gives in and pulls the crying brunette into a hug.
Their secrets are out so they might as well talk about them. They talk and talk, about how her husband says all the right things but she can't feel them, how she feels like a failure, how she loves Julian and what a good man he is but sometimes she wishes he wasn't so good to every damsel in distress who walks by him. Lucas feels a pang of guilt, he knows a large reason Brooke doesn't trust her husband is because of his own past actions, yet it is his shoulder she's crying on.
Lucas is angry, angry at his wife for betraying their vows, angry that she isn't a wreck full of guilt and shame, and it is eating away at him. How did it happen? He screams the thought and Brooke shakes her head. She wonders aloud how you can just fall into an affair, that things like that just don't happen. She is disappointed in Peyton, and she just can't understand it, any of it.
Not yet anyway.
They had both said I do with so much love and promise, what they had now did not seem real.
Someone mentions the time, it's five in the morning, they've talked all night, about everything and nothing, about all the small things and the big things. Brooke says she has to go, she should go to bed, and she stands with all the good intention in the world, bending over to pick up the heels she'd abandoned hours ago.
How much had they drunk? Brooke feels slightly dizzy, and her hand reaches for his solid chest as she straightens up. Instinctively his hand holds hers against him and their eyes meet, they hold for a little too long, a look in their eyes way too familiar to them both from a time that was a lifetime ago.
She knows it, she knows that look, that thickness in the air, that smile he is wearing, she knows her heart. Words tumble out quickly as she snatches her hand away, something about really needing to leave but she falls backwards in her haste and Lucas tries to catch her only to fall down with her instead as they become an awkward intwined tangle of limbs on the hotel bed.
And she still doesn't understand it, in that moment Brooke's good intentions still sees herself better than this, still sees herself getting up and leaving.
But she doesn't.
She finds out she isn't. She's not better than all the people who had found themselves a little too close to someone who isn't their husband or wife.
They just stare at each other unmoving and then it feels like slow motion as his lips lower to hers. Their eyes close, it still doesn't break the spell weaving around them. At first its tentative, a question, perhaps a dream but then the dam breaks.
It's not slow, it's not careful. Perhaps because somewhere deep inside them both they know that it has to be this way, any other way would be too many moments to think – to stop – and somewhere inside them both the truth is a gut wrenching, unbelievable, want.
They don't speak, they don't even take their clothes off, they don't give themselves time to think about how wrong it feels because in the moment it just feels good.
And neither has felt this good in a long time.
Now Brooke begins to understand how some things happen.
She's now the girl who had sex with one of her best friends' husband in a hotel room half way across the country from her own husband.
That good feeling disappears quickly. She feels sick, she is sick, running to the bathroom to empty her stomach. Lucas can hear her crying through the locked door.
He hates himself for what he's done to her, not to his wife, but to the beautiful broken woman now a mess on the floor.
She hates herself, it's not a passing sense of guilt, she hates herself for sinking so low, she hates herself for her weakness, and most of all she hates herself for hurting the good man waiting for her at home.
Julian. She's in shock. Brooke doesn't know how she can ever look into her husband's eyes again without guilt weighing down on her.
It's too little, too late. Brooke Davis has never done things half way, not even her mistakes.
When she steps out of the bathroom Brooke's hoping Lucas won't be there, it's his hotel room though and he is nervously waiting. This time when their eyes meet different emotions are there. He can tell she wants to run; he doesn't know what to say so Lucas falls back on hopeless words. I'm sorry. Her eyes darken at the phrase that held the shadows of long-ago conversations, of course they weren't the right words to say.
Of course, there were no right words to say.
She leaves, her head down, those heels dangling between her fingers, and they don't need words to have the this didn't happen conversation. They tell themselves they might be able to forget.
Brooke knows she has to tell Julian, keeping it a secret would only make her crime worse. The awkward, pained silence for the first day and a half is put down to all the things she had confessed to Lucas.
One thing Brooke knows is she loves her husband, and she tells herself that as they lay in bed together with her secret between them. She wants to save her marriage, Brooke is sure of that, so she promises herself she will do everything she can to do so. She won't lie though.
She tells him they need to talk, Julian wonders if this is it, if Brooke is about to walk away. Her words don't make sense, he thinks he misheard her. She's apologising, crying, hating herself as she speaks about it being too much to forgive. This was not what he had expected, he'd expected her to leave, to run away from them, not for his wife to admit she'd slept with some guy from a bar in New York.
Brooke doesn't think it's lying not to say she had known the man, not to say the name of who she had betrayed Julian with. Confessing was her choice; she didn't want any part of Lucas' choices any more.
Julian is mad, and he is heartbroken. He is the one who leaves, he finds himself with Alex and he knows it would be all too easy to even the score. Julian loves his wife though and when he stupidly kisses Alex, he knows straight away it is not something he can do.
He goes home instead. Brooke doesn't flinch when he tells her about the kiss, she doesn't blame him, and her lack of anger makes him angry.
The anger comes for both of them, they fight for a week and then she tells him she's tired of fighting him, she wants to fight for him instead but she knows she was wrong so she gives him a chance to walk away.
He doesn't. They're going to face this together, and get through it. It won't be easy but they have hope, and they have love. Brooke thinks maybe she didn't destroy her marriage.
She's still waiting for the hammer to drop, every time the phone rings or there is a knock on the door Brooke half expects it to be an angry Peyton on the war path.
It doesn't happen though.
Lucas did not have to tell Peyton he'd been with another woman; his wife had known it the second she saw him. There had been an anger in Lucas' eyes every time he'd looked at her but that night when he'd stepped into their house all there had been was guilt.
A part of her was relieved, happy she didn't have to carry the betrayal alone anymore. Guilt she can work with, it's easier than his anger. She hopes he understands now, she hopes they can move forward.
For a while it is easier, mutual infidelity seems to be a wake-up call but soon all the little things are there again and guilt doesn't fix anything. At least the anger is gone though.
One night, Peyton confesses to her best friend the truth of her marriage, that she's had an affair though it was over now, that it had almost destroyed her marriage, and that's not all, Lucas had a one-night stand while out of town. He had been so angry; she thinks it was revenge or something.
Brooke had to bite her lip as Peyton had told her everything, and she wonders if that was what it was. Had she been a part of a game to hurt Peyton, was that all she is. But Brooke stops worrying that Peyton will show up to punch her one day, the what had been confessed but not the who. Brooke thinks its better this way, Peyton wants to save her marriage and Brooke wants the same thing.
Brooke and Julian try hard to put it all behind them, it seems to work, Haley comments about how happy and in love they look, so much like when they first got married.
Weeks turn to months and Brooke stops waiting for her world to fall apart. She thinks she is safe, her guard goes down, and that's when it implodes.
It shouldn't be possible, Brooke had been told it couldn't happen so she'd misread all the signs, she's three months along when she finds out she's pregnant.
It's a miracle and at first her and Julian are excited, they take it as a sign, and he kisses her with joy in his eyes and the past seems so far away now. It's that first ultrasound that bursts the happy bubble that had surrounded them, they both had grown silent when the dates were read and realisation dawns.
This silence lasts a tense three days, they don't cry in front of each other though the red rimmed eyes give too much away.
He breaks the silence, a plea of it not being fair and then he's rationalising things, saying how the babies, because she was having twins of all things, had to be his. And Brooke nods because what was one quickie compared to the countless times she'd made love to her husband that month. She tries to convince herself that the odds were in their favour. And so, the tears stop because they're doing this, they're having a family, and the excitement returns.
Julian throws himself into his impending fatherhood, and Brooke almost forgets there is a question mark hanging over her pregnancy - until her phone rings. A name flashes on the screen and Brooke freezes, Haley sends her a curious glance seeing the fear on her friend's face, Brooke declines the call and places her cell from the table to her bag.
When Haley asks Brooke if she can tell Jamie he's going to have two little cousins soon Brooke's mind is still on Lucas and she jumps, her eyes widen as she looks at Haley wondering how does she know. Of course, Haley doesn't know, how could she? Brooke doesn't even know. Brooke quickly hides her shock and smiles. She's going to be a mother and this was a good thing.
The next day Lucas tries to call again and alone Brooke almost ignores it, she picks up just in time but she doesn't speak. She wonders why he is calling, wonders if he's found out she's pregnant and is doing the math himself. Brooke hasn't exactly been forthcoming with how far along she is, a convenient we just found out made her seem not as far along as she actually was.
Lucas doesn't know Brooke's pregnant; he's apologises for calling because they'd agreed to pretend it never happened, which isn't technically true as they had never agreed on any such thing, he had said sorry and she had left. Yet he's right in a way, they hadn't needed to discuss it, they had known.
She wonders out loud why he is calling and Lucas doesn't answer straight away, he eventually tells her simply, he needed to know she was okay. Her breath catches, a lone tear falls and she nods then realises he can't see her and answers with a yes instead. It seems like the right thing to do so she asks him about himself, adds on that she's talked to Peyton and she's happy they're sorting things out. I guess things happen for a reason, she gives a little chuckle as her hand goes to the slight bump, and thinks of the sick irony that perhaps their disastrous night together, representing perhaps the lowest choice either of them had ever made, had been the very thing to help bring them back to their respective spouses.
On the other side of the phone Lucas is still a little unsure, he's going to do the best to save his marriage, after all he could no longer hold the affair against Peyton and he had his little girl to think of. There wasn't much choice.
They try to act normal yet it's awkward, they're both holding back, and when he hangs up there's something final about their goodbye.
Brooke cries, her body is full of hormones, and when Julian finds her Brooke is wet from the tears, and she bemoans the mess she's made of everything. Her husband is surprised because it has been good these last few days, so good that he doesn't want to even think about the possibility the babies growing inside his wife aren't his. Julian is sure, so sure, he looks her in the eyes and tells her she hasn't made a mess of everything, he tells her that they're going to be a family now, holds her stomach and says that our children are the best thing that has ever happened to him. And she cries more and mentions the chance they're avoiding, questions what if they're not his, and Julian shoots her down and says of course they're his, they're theirs, and he's going to be the one by her side. He promises her, and in this moment Julian wholeheartedly believes what he is saying, that it doesn't matter about blood because he's going to be dad so as far as he's concerned there is no question.
And like Brooke when she went to leave that hotel room months ago, Julian also had the best of intentions.
In two different states two marriages are trying to heal bleeding wounds. Brooke grows larger, her and Julian grow happier, love can be a very powerful thing. Months creep by, Lucas and Peyton don't find an old happiness, it's difficult to bring the sincerity back and Lucas starts to wonder about his wife, about their feelings for each other and if staying together is really right for their family.
He does think about Brooke sometimes, he tells himself he's happy she's happy, though he'd been surprised when Peyton told him Brooke was pregnant, expressing his shock he hadn't thought that was possible. For the briefest flicker Peyton was confused, she was sure she hadn't told Lucas about Brooke's fertility issues, she shrugs it away and makes an assumption that Lucas doesn't question. That doctors are miracle workers these days. Lucas never thinks about the possibility he's the father but he does think about Brooke sometimes. Sometimes he's not completely happy that she is seemingly so happy.
He's not.
They tried the best they could, one day during a therapy session it hits Lucas what bothers him so much. Peyton hadn't been angry at all, and he realises she hadn't been angry because she hadn't cared that he'd been with another woman. He reveals the new truth he'd figured out and the look on his wife's face confirms it, and he knows in that moment that his marriage is over.
While Lucas is packing his things Brooke and Julian are each holding a baby boy in their arms, amazed at these little miracles that are all theirs. Jude and Davis Baker were a month old and Brooke was utterly in love.
Happiness and love, and a lot of tiredness, make it easy for Julian and Brooke to forget the thing they never talk about anymore. As far as them and the world are concerned there is no question, Julian Baker is a proud father of twins.
The boys are nearly two months old when Quinn makes a comment about Jude's still blue eyes that grew bluer each day. She asks where they come from and for the first time Julian looks at his sons and he's not so sure.
Brooke meets his frown and her smile falls a little, she had almost forgotten, she hugs Davis who she was holding and doesn't meet anyone's eyes when she casually mentions that her Mother has blue eyes. It must be recessive.
Suddenly Julian starts wondering, both his parents have brown eyes, their parents too, but it could mean nothing. Every day he looks at his sons and asks himself, is that my smile, Jude has my curly light hair right, they're mine, right?
He had said it didn't matter but Julian did think about it more than he would admit to.
They don't talk about it but the happiness between them begins to dim, Brooke loves being a mother but she's not blind to Julian pulling away.
The first time one of the twins are sick family medical history comes up and Brooke and Julian quickly look at each other. Brooke's heart is thumping. Are they doing the right thing ignoring DNA. Brooke has always believed the twins must be Julian's, they had to be, surely, but what if they weren't. Was it fair to Lucas and his family not to know, for Jamie and Lydia to be unaware the boys were their real cousins, if they were that was, was it fair?
A darker thought came to Brooke on remembering the doctor's question. What if the twins inherited HCM from Lucas? What if they were sick, fear filled her and that was without the thought that a HCM diagnosis would eventually reveal the secret her and Julian were keeping.
They are in bed together and Brooke decides she needs to ask her husband. So she does. Should they do a DNA test just so they can know for sure.
Julian says no. He doesn't tell her he doesn't want to know, that he's not ready yet.
It's easier to pretend. But now they are both starting to doubt their certainty more and more, Julian searches them for signs of familiarity to the baby photos he asked his mother for. He ended up confessing the truth to her, Sylvia was surprised, supportive on the outside yet inside deeply hurt. She too starts to look at her grandsons searching for her son, she wants to see something but the more she looks the more she doesn't see.
Brooke on the other hand is looking for something else. Jude's eye colour, Davis' eye shape, it's so hard to tell with babies but she can't help but notice that the twins resemble photos of Jamie and Lydia more than the old ones of Julian.
They had said it wouldn't matter though, they both knew there was a chance, so Brooke puts a smile on when Julian's around the boys trying to let him find his footing with them again. They're her world now.
Brooke had always feared her biggest mistake would destroy her marriage; in the end it wasn't hers that did so.
It was Julian's.
Once again Brooke doesn't understand how something could happen. How could Julian forget that their son was in the car? How could he have just left their baby.
She can't forgive him, she tries, but trusting her children to him is harder now.
They get in a fight, she is just so angry and disappointed, they're both a little broken now. And then he says the thing they both have done their best not to say, he says they're not even his.
Brooke doesn't respond. She can't.
Julian leaves, he stays with his mother for a few weeks before he returns but things are not the same, and Sylvia shows up one day and Brooke realises Julian had told his mother about the twins' questionable paternity.
Its harder to look at each other and Julian doesn't know what to do, he thought he could do this, he thought he could forgive her – love them like they're his own. But he's afraid to love them now. One day they talk about it, anger has softened to heartache, and Brooke doesn't blame him.
She can't expect him to forgive her when she still hasn't forgiven herself.
It hurts how he feels about the boys though, and there still is a large chance they are his and paranoia from guilt and fear could be making the situation worse.
It's hard but they decide to separate, and this time when Julian leaves they both know he won't be coming back.
All their friends are blindsided, no one had seen it coming, but Julian and Brooke try to make it easy. They take what they came into the marriage with, and Brooke insists on selling her house and splitting the money. Julian agrees though he doesn't really care.
The only complications are the twins. Julian wants the DNA test done now, he needs to know before he can move on, whether he can freely love them as his own and try to get that joy of fatherhood back or… if they're not his. Brooke doesn't know what will happen if they're not Julian's, he hasn't talked about it.
It's a simple swab of the cheeks for the twins and then one day an envelope arrives, they're not together when they open the results. They don't know what they had hoped for, which is confusing for the both of them, though if they were being truthful neither one is surprised.
Julian doesn't cry, he won't cry over it for a few weeks, but he knows now and eventually he will feel relieved that this truth makes it easier to walk away. He no longer has to feel guilty about how he feels when he looks at those two little boys because they weren't his.
Brooke stares at the results, she can't hide from it anymore, it's written there in black and white. She does cry, though she's not sure what the tears are for.
The next day Julian knocks on her door and they sit in silence for a while, he knew the boys would be napping, he had asked to see them but he was grateful they were asleep because it made it easier.
What now? Brooke asks. She wants to know what he wants. He could still be their father even if they were getting divorced, he is legally the father and there would be things they need to do to unravel that mess. Brooke's to ashamed to say what she wants; she doesn't even know what that is.
Julian isn't so confused. He thinks its best that he gives up his parental rights, makes the truth official, walks away.
Again, Brooke doesn't know how that makes her feel. A little sad, a little angry… a little relieved.
With Julian gone Brooke has more to think about, the boys were fatherless now, with Julian gone she once again starts thinking about how fair she was being to Lucas and his family, and the boys of course. They deserve a father and protecting Julian's feelings was no longer her concern.
Brooke knows she has to tell Lucas, and she knows it's just a matter of when not if. Everyone will find out. That's more than a little scary for Brooke.
Her friends have gathered around her, they think she's a victim abandoned by her husband. They hate Julian, their shock and confusion making way for anger.
One day Brooke tells Haley to stop, to just stop, that Julian was one of the best men and he deserved better than her. Nathan and Haley look at Brooke in shock, and she looks her friend straight in the eyes and finally tells them what had destroyed her marriage.
It was my fault, she tells them. She makes no excuses, because no excuse was good enough, she had made her choice that night. So she tells them frankly that the twins were not Julian's, there had been someone else and they had tried to put it behind them, tried to move on but they couldn't. That Brooke supported Julian's choice to start fresh after the DNA test revealed their suspicions.
Haley blinked with shock and then a look of disappointment darkened her eyes, it was the disgust that Nathan didn't hide when he realised what had happened that had Brooke flinch.
It didn't last long though, soon her friends were supporting her again, Haley asked her what was going to happen now and Brooke was truthful - she had no idea.
Brooke was putting a hold on changing their birth certificates, she needed to talk to Lucas because if she was going to change it better to do it only once. There was a matter of their names too, it didn't seem right to keep Baker, and Brooke didn't think Davis Davis was such a great idea.
Christmas was going to be soon; Brooke decides that after the holiday she would go tell Lucas and they can decide together what to do. After all she didn't create this mess all by herself. At least she couldn't place his divorce on her new bombshell she had to drop on him.
It was strange for Brooke; she'd spent so much time while she was with Julian actively not thinking about Lucas and now, he was all she could think about.
She booked the tickets without telling anyone, three days before her flight Brooke went to Haley and Nathan's for Christmas dinner, grateful to have other people to celebrate with and for one last chance to be around her friends before they all knew the truth.
Haley had said it was just going to be a little bit of the family, Brooke had gifts for Haley and Nathan and their kids, a small gift for Quinn too, she hopes the whole James clan wasn't going to be there.
They weren't, even Quinn had gone to their older brother's place this Christmas. Brooke hadn't expected that when Haley said family, she had meant Nathan's side.
Haley grins, are you surprised? She asks not knowing just how surprised Brooke is, she innocently adds she was going to tell Brooke that Karen and Lily were coming but it was all so last minute and surprises were better.
Brooke was definitely surprised.
Lucas wasn't, Haley had told him Brooke and the twins were going to be coming too and he grinned in welcome hoping that he would be able to greet Brooke as a good friend once again. He hasn't seen her in almost two years and so much has changed.
It hurts when she doesn't meet his eyes though Lucas respects her enough to give her space.
Fate, or Haley, had other plans, and Lucas takes his seat next to Brooke and tries to ignore the way she tenses.
They were eating turkey when Karen asks to hold one of the boys, Davis was fussing, and unable to deny the simple request without it looking strange Brooke hands her grumpy son to his unknowing grandmother.
Her nerves changes to a secret joy when she sees the way Karen interacts with Davis, it had Lucas' attention as well.
The conversation suddenly stops when Lucas asked where Julian was, Brooke stuttered shocked, and Lucas made a joke about her not knowing where her husband is. Panic eyes look around the table and Nathan kicks his brother's leg.
Still confused Lucas asked if he'd said something wrong. Nathan rolled his eyes, made a crack about if Lucas knew where Peyton was and Lucas' eyes widened as he realised what that meant. He apologises saying he hadn't known.
Brooke said it was alright but he apologised again, shocked.
The moment was broken by Deb giving a chuckle, she sits next to Karen and the two older women were happily interacting with Davis still. The little boy was grinning at them, no longer grumpy, Deb eyes sparkle not knowing how her innocent observation that she was about to make was too close for comfort. Oh my, she exclaims, he reminds me so much of Jamie as a baby, they could be brothers if I didn't know better.
The others laugh, because they saw it too, but Karen has no reason to think more on it, and Nathan and Haley know Jamie has no little brother. Babies look alike sometimes, it's not strange.
They had no reason to give the resemblance a second thought, Lucas freezes though as he looks at his mother and Brooke's son, his brow furrows and then he looks at Brooke.
He knows. One look into her eyes and he knows the truth.
The next day Lucas leaves Sawyer with his Mom and sister, rocking up on Brooke's doorstep, she's not surprised to see him but she still gives him a what are you doing here blank stare.
Lucas lifts his brows and smiles, he doesn't need to speak, she steps back and lets him in and when they're standing facing each other she shrugs.
So, you now know. Her expression says. It's almost a battle to see who will actually speak first.
One of their sons cries before either parent breaks the silence. Brooke runs upstairs, picking Jude up and standing there for longer than necessary. She wasn't hiding behind her son but she enjoyed putting a pause on the conversation she knew was about to happen. One she hadn't expected to have for three more days.
Brooke returns downstairs, Jude on her hip, and finds Lucas kneeling by Davis in the playpen, he was touching his hand and grinning widely.
He looks up when he senses her and his smile doesn't faulter, he says hi. Just hi. And Brooke smiles back, feeling suddenly at ease despite the situation.
There was something about seeing Lucas, his shoes now off, relaxed on her living room floor with his shirt unbuttoned enough to see he was wearing a necklace, playing with the son he didn't know about only a day ago, that just had warmth go down her spine.
There's only one thing she can think to do. Brooke joins Lucas on the floor and hands Jude over to his father. It felt natural, too natural, Lucas held his son up to look into his face and starts talking to the boy. Brooke lifts Davis out of the playpen and for ten minutes they're just playing together, nothing more is said.
Face still in the direction of the boys Lucas lifts his eyes to look at Brooke. They have to eventually talk about it so they do.
Lucas is to the point, he asks if Julian knows, he then wonders aloud how this even happened, he thought she couldn't have kids.
Brooke had thought that too.
All the complications disappear in their minds, when its just the four of them it seems so simple.
Lucas calls Peyton that night and tells her he's staying in Tree Hill for a couple of weeks, he doesn't think beyond that yet, he's just thinking about getting to know his sons.
And that's what he does.
A weight lifts from Brooke's shoulders, she doesn't have to hide it anymore, she doesn't have to feel the guilt every time she looks into Julian's eyes, there's no more not knowing, and life seems easier.
She knows it is temporary; Brooke knows the band aid hasn't been ripped off yet.
No one questions Lucas staying in town longer than planned, though it was always just a matter of time until someone would put one plus one together and come up with the right answer.
It ends up being Haley, she is meant to be babysitting the twins but really it is Lucas doing all the work and at first she thinks nothing of it. Its not until they take the children to the park and someone else mentions something that Haley suddenly grows suspicious. It was a simple thing, while Lydia played in the sand Lucas and Haley pushed the twins on the swing, Haley knew from time with Brooke that strangers found twins fascinating, so she wasn't surprised about the extra attention.
When Lucas removed the twins from the swings, he didn't put them down or strap them back into the double pram, he held them a little too comfortably, one on each hip. The grandmother who was about to use the swing gushed at the sight, and Haley rolled her eyes as Lucas put on the charm, but then the older lady started talking about how much the twins took after their daddy, especially those baby blue eyes. Haley expected Lucas to laugh it off, perhaps correct the assumption, instead she watched him grin and turn away.
It wasn't possible, Haley told herself. How could it be. Lucas hadn't been in Tree Hill around the time Brooke would have conceived, he was married to Peyton back then, Haley shook her head, realising that didn't mean a thing after all Brooke had been married too. The fact they'd both separated from their spouses within such a short time nagged at Haley, and she remembered Brooke's face when Haley had once asked who the real father was, Brooke had told Haley she needed to tell him before anyone else which didn't make sense if it was just a guy Haley didn't know, and there was the family resemblance. But it couldn't be, could it?
She didn't share her suspicions, Haley needed to investigate first, so she video calls Peyton. The blonde is shocked when Haley asks a question she didn't expect, asks if Lucas had cheated on her. Peyton's expression says it all and Haley is furious, Peyton doesn't appear angry and she tries to explain but Haley doesn't listen. But when she speaks about how Peyton's not angry at someone, she says her not him and Peyton is surprised but as quickly as Haley had started the conversation she ends the call.
That night Peyton thinks about things, she calls Lucas the next day and asks him blankly how long he's staying in Tree Hill and he replies he doesn't know. How this will all work hasn't been figured out yet, he's evasive and Peyton asks him why he changed his plans.
She can tell he shrugs, and he replies he has a couple of good reasons.
For a few seconds neither talks and then Peyton just asks him if it was Brooke in New York, the question surprises Lucas and after he relaxes Lucas sighs and confirms it. And since she knows it was Brooke in New York Lucas decides he might as well tell her the rest of it.
Unlike Brooke and Haley had expected, Peyton isn't angry. She's a little hurt that Brooke had slept with her then husband, that had more to do with her friendship with Brooke than her feelings for Lucas but it feels like forever ago and Peyton doesn't have the energy for an old love triangle. She's happy with her single life, she is happy with her daughter and she is happy now that her and Lucas can co-parent well, so she makes a choice to be happy for Brooke and Lucas too.
And in the history of the love triangle from hell it was one of the better choices made. Unlike Brooke who had struggled to understand how something can just happen, like finding yourself in bed with a wedding ring that didn't match your own, Peyton didn't struggle, she knew quite well how bad choices can be made with little thought.
Slowly the truth is revealed and one day everyone just knows. The secret that had not been spoken for so long was no longer a secret.
There's no more question over what to do with Davis' name, the twins are Davis and Jude Scott now, and they'll grow up not remembering a time it was anything else.
Haley's the one it seems to be hardest on, she can't seem to look Lucas and Brooke in the eyes anymore. What exactly is happening between Brooke and Lucas isn't so clear, there is no longer any partners complicating things, no longer an unknown paternity haunting them, there's just life and they begin to live it.
Lucas stays in Tree Hill with Sawyer but he's soon due to return her to her mother and the elephant in the room is suddenly unavoidable. The night before his flight he's at Brooke's house, boxes are everywhere because her place has finally sold, and they spent the day together allowing Sawyer to play with her surprise little brothers before they're separated.
He lay sprawled on her couch, his three children in different positions asleep over him, but Lucas is smiling despite the pain in his back and the fact he hasn't been able to feel one of his legs for the last twenty minutes.
The sight hurts Brooke, so she makes another life changing choice but this time she knows she's making it.
She tells him they're going with them, it's not fair that he will have to choose between his children. It's the right decision Brooke thinks, a fresh start would be nice, a place where people won't look at them and see their sins.
After all she was going to have to move anyway.
Brooke gets Lucas' bedroom, he sleeps on the couch, and the twins move into their new room. It will do for now because they don't really have a plan.
The shame and guilt Brooke had carried around for nearly two years was fading more and more each day, she looked at her sons and only sees the good again.
Being away from Tree Hill isn't what is hard, it's the people she misses, but Brooke has her boys, and she has Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer.
They must seem like a strange family, unconventional at best, but Brooke and Peyton fall back into their friendship, it's familiar and feels good, they're there for each other. They fall back into it as easily as Brooke had fallen onto that bed in that hotel room. The good feeling doesn't go away this time, it just gets stronger.
The couch is comfortable, the temporary arrangement doesn't seem so temporary anymore, they don't talk about it but soon the twins are turning two and they have a little party at their house and Peyton stays extra late for a game of poker after the children are in bed.
It almost seems like their children have three parents but it works.
One day Peyton looks at Brooke for a little too long, what the brunette asks, she felt itchy with all the staring and Peyton shrugs but keeps staring. Brooke kinks her brow and so Peyton asks her what's been on her mind for over a year.
What's going on between you and Lucas?
Nothing, we're friends, just friends.
It almost feels like you're vibing again. Peyton shrugs and drinks some beer; she says it wouldn't bother her and she's telling the truth. They're practically together in every other way anyway.
Besides, Peyton figures if Sawyer's going to end up with a step mom it might as well be one she can hand pick.
They don't date, each other or other people, they live together, split the chores, split the bills, they effortlessly parent the three children under their roof. But they never talk about it.
It's left unsaid until one day Brooke breaks that silence.
Lucas has slept on the couch for over a year, and it's late, his eyes are drooping, his arms are spread over the back of the couch, his hand dangling down, fingers brushing her shoulder. Brooke's head rests on the arm of the couch, her bare feet are slightly tucked under Lucas' legs.
With a sigh Brooke stands, and she looks at Lucas, half asleep, and she tells him to go to bed. He looks confused, isn't he in bed, her eyes stray to the direction of the master room.
Their hazel depths say come on, so Lucas stands and follows Brooke to their room. It's theirs now, their room and their bed.
All they do is sleep, until one night they do more and once again they don't really discuss it but at least Lucas doesn't have to apologise and Brooke's not running away with her shoes in her hands.
It's just the way it is now.
Lucas doesn't really know when she starts referring to him as Boyfriend again, just like back in high school. They're happy, stupidly happy.
The twins don't remember anything else, for as long as they can remember they've lived with their stupidly happy parents. Brooke and Lucas know one day they'll have to explain things to the kids, Sawyer will figure out the maths and the boys might question why they use to have a different surname.
Its years away though.
One day Lucas tells Peyton he's going to ask Brooke to marry him, he's nervous, he has wanted to make it official for a while now but he doesn't know what Brooke will say.
Their first marriages didn't exactly end well, he tells Peyton that and she laughs, and says she thinks it all ended better than expected. So, it's his ex-wife and their daughter who helps him pick out the ring, they have better taste than him, and they know Brooke just as well.
The how and when wasn't really planned. The twins have just turned six, they haven't taken down all the decorations yet. They always leave them up too long, Christmas seems to last through February but what's some extra joy. Davis is sick, they've been up all night dealing with vomit, Brooke's tired, wearing only her underwear as she places more spoiled clothes in the washing machine, she's explaining Jude's school trip and mutters how he better not get sick too.
As soon as she mentions it Brooke turns, her back leaning against the machine as the sound of water pouring into it started, she groaned, looking up at the roof, says they should probably tell Peyton to keep Sawyer longer, she'll miss the kid but if she gets sick Brooke won't forgive herself, not if Sawyer misses her recital next week.
Her eyes flash to Lucas, she thinks about maybe sending Jude to stay with Peyton too but then changes her mind because he probably is already contaminated.
Lucas just looks at her, she starts talking again, she has decided they need a holiday after this, all Lucas can think about is how beautiful she is.
So, he tells her that and she scoffs, and then she tells him to help her with the washing. Lucas has better ideas though and instead he wraps his arms around her and pulls her back against him, nuzzling her neck.
She slaps him away squealing, telling him she smells like vomit, then she teases him, asks him to join her in the shower, using that familiar nickname of boyfriend.
Lucas smiles and holding her hands playfully pulls her towards him, he pretends to think about it, she warns him the offer is ticking away. And he agrees, on one condition.
Brooke kinks her eyebrow, and Lucas rolls his face back to look at her as if it's so hard to do, and he tells her he will only do so if she stops calling him boyfriend.
A flash of hurt crosses her face but then he tells her she has to call him fiancé instead.
The hurt disappears and Brooke stumbles back a little, her bottom hits the shaking washing machine, she asks him if he is serious and he is.
Like he expected she made comments about how things were good between them, how getting married didn't work out for them the last time.
He jokes that maybe the third time will be the charm, and she slaps him and objects to him planning their divorce before they even get married.
He says she has to say yes first.
She doesn't say anything, just looks at him with big, scared eyes. Lucas lifts her up, sits her on top of washing machine and kisses her, and they get a little distracted. Brooke tries to take things further, unbuckling Lucas' belt but he pulls away and tells her she needs to answer.
She doesn't so he tells her nothing can happen til she makes an honest man out of him, she laughs and his resolve does not last.
He takes it as a yes and slips the ring on her finger while she's asleep, she doesn't take it off.
She never will.
They go home to Tree Hill for Christmas and rent a house with Peyton, it's the first time they all have woken up Christmas morning together, it's a good one. Peyton's mind starts turning.
They're meant to go to Nathan and Haley's for dinner, Brooke has never felt the same around them as before the truth came out. Looking into Haley's eyes was like a window into the past when Brooke had felt weighed down by her failure. It's been years, they went so fast.
Late in the night Haley is helping Davis fix his shoelace, Brooke thanks her and they smile at each other. Something flickers in Haley's eyes and Brooke feels the same shame she used to live with daily.
She apologises, she says all the things she didn't say years ago, Haley is bemused as she listens. When Brooke stops to breathe Haley laughs, her tone sad. She tells Brooke she's not angry with her, that she never hated her.
She just misses her.
And they hug. Brooke has missed her too.
Later that night Peyton knocks on Brooke and Lucas' door, asks if their decent and then she walks in, crawling in next to them she looks up at the ceiling and she tells them she is thinking about moving back home.
Brooke startles Peyton with a quick kiss, she says yes, and Lucas knows the decision has been made.
They decide to get married first, just a small wedding - just family - they go to New Zealand where its still summer and she wears flowers in her hair, Sawyer has a matching design.
It's perfect, perfect for them. Brooke walks down the aisle herself this time, she couldn't stop grinning, and her grin makes Lucas grin. They're not nervous.
Everyone claps when they kiss on the now you may… and the sentence is never finished.
It's not odd to anyone there that one maid of honour was the same as Brooke's first wedding to a different man, and Brooke had been maid of honour at the other one's wedding to the man that was now her own husband.
Brooke no longer saw it as a mess, or complications, she's just too damn happy.
This time marriage is different, things change of course but only in good ways.
One day Brooke sits with Haley and Peyton, they're laughing over something from years ago, they have a lot of good memories that tie them. The laughter dies down and suddenly out of the blue Peyton announces she's seeing someone, its serious this time.
Peyton's relationships have remained casual since her divorce from Lucas, not lasting long enough for anyone who matters to meet them. Unless you count the times Brooke's unexpectly stopped by and found a half-naked friend in Peyton's kitchen, or bedroom, or living room. Peyton never did take the spare keys from Brooke.
Her name is Cam, short for Camille, she's a writer, songs though. Peyton likes watching her play the guitar. Brooke says she has a type. Brooke isn't the maid of honour at the wedding but it's only because they elope while on vacation, not even Sawyer's there.
When she hears about the wedding Brooke starts to wonder, so she finds herself searching google and enters a storm of articles and images.
It's not that she avoids thinking about Julian, she just doesn't.
Now she finds herself looking at what he's been up to since their divorce, hoping he's happy.
Julian Baker is doing well, more than well, he's still directing and lives between America and Australia, Brooke sees pictures of him at the beach outside his house on the gold coast and she smiles at the happy images of a young family. His wife is an actress, not one half his age, she's older than Brooke, an Australian he met on set of a film a few years after their break up. She looks nice.
He has a step daughter, and two daughters of his own.
When she closes the search engine Brooke's mind goes elsewhere, she doesn't think about her ex-husband for another year.
It's the middle of winter, the flights have all been delayed and Brooke is trying to entertain the boys at an overcrowded airport. They're eleven now, with a lot more attitude, she wishes they weren't fighting so she puts on her Mom voice and tells them that the next one to speak will doing the dishes for a week. By hand.
They go silent.
Brooke looks up and the crowd slightly parts and she thinks she's imagining it. There her ex-husband is looking at a book stand at one of the airport stalls, he's older, thinner, his hair is salt and pepper now and he has a curly beard covering his jaw line. But it is him.
As if he can sense her eyes on him Julian looks up and after a moment of shock he smiles, so she smiles back lifting her hand in a wave.
Julian decides what the hell, it's been over ten years, so he walks over towards his ex, curiosity leading his steps. Its not until he's in front of her that Julian notices the two boys with her, they'd been chubby babies the last time he'd seen them but they were almost as tall as their mother now, they were both lean, with dark brown hair and pale skin. Julian could tell Jude by the curls and the blue eyes and he gave Davis a double take, the boy looked like a darker, lankier Jamie. They could have been his sons, the thought hits him, he shakes it away because life happened and ultimately, he's happy.
It's all just a bit weird for him. He won't lie to himself, a part of him liked to sometimes imagine that Brooke was miserable, only sometimes.
He tells her they've grown, and she chuckles because it has been a long time. She tells him it's good to see him, that he looks good, he looks happy.
Julian confirms he is and then asks how she is.
She replies good. Her eyes then light up involuntarily as a familiar blonde head appears, the boys notice their father too and yell Dad to get his attention because his eyes were still scanning the crowd for his family.
A look of relief crosses Lucas' face and he rushes to join them, oblivious to the man in front of his wife as his attention was all on the boys.
Julian couldn't help the pang in his heart at seeing Lucas Scott, he'd often wondered but never had the nerve to check to make sure if his suspicions had been correct.
When the two make eye contact Lucas hides his surprise and instead gives a nod of acknowledgement, he didn't know what to say to the man whose wife he'd gotten pregnant, the man who'd raised his sons when they were newborns. There was nothing to say, he told Brooke he'd meet her by the exit and he took the boys and left Brooke and Julian alone.
I always wondered, Julian admitted to her and his brow creased a little before he grinned, saying that they look happy.
We are.
He asks if they have any more children and Brooke shakes her head, she says just Sawyer. It's not like they ever did anything to prevent it, it just never happened again. They only got one miracle. As badly timed as it had been.
She asks about his girls, shrugging that she'd seen it in an article, and his face lights up and he says they're amazing and then he tells her he better go find his family, and she should too.
They say bye and for a moment they both consider hugging, they don't, they just turn around and walk in opposite directions.
Suddenly Julian looks back and he calls her name. She turns with a smile and he grins. Once upon a different time she had fallen in love with that goofy grin.
They'll be the last words he will ever say to her. No regrets.
Eventually the weather clears, flights resume and Brooke and Lucas are at home, snuggled on the couch, a blanket over them.
The twins are snoring on the other couch and a teenage Sawyer is asleep on the floor, her face stuck in a work book. They have too many nights like this, Brooke loves it, she switches the channel and leaves it on an old Meg Ryan movie.
You remember that night in New York, Lucas asks and Brooke snuggles in deeper.
Her voice was deadpan and she asks him sarcastically if he meant the night the twins were conceived, that though it had been pretty quick it was still hard to forget.
He shushes her, and tells her he means before that. The carriage ride.
She remembers.
He comments that they ended up with everything they'd wanted and Brooke thinks about the things they'd listed and realises they're literally living their dream life. Down to the two boys and a girl.
I guess we're pretty lucky. She can't help but smile.
They forget the turmoil sometimes, it is so easy for them to forget there was ever a time they could imagine forever with anybody but each other, especially as more years go by.
Their friends and family forget too, Peyton wonders if it wasn't for Sawyer if she'd even believe that once a upon a time, she had been Mrs Lucas Scott.
For their kids its all they can remember, all they know. Even Sawyer had been so young the memories are fuzzy, she's nineteen and the twins are fifteen when Sawyer looks back and realises things don't add up.
There are no pictures of Lucas with the twins before they're one, or of Sawyer with them, she knows that her dad had been married to her mother, and she knows Brooke had previously been married too. She's looking for extra Halloween decorations in their attic but stumbles across a box, it holds photos she's never seen before, photos of the twins with a man she has never seen before. One is in hospital.
He looked like a proud father.
It's a simple mystery to solve, Sawyer had never bothered before but for the first time she googles her parents. Her mother wasn't as famous, however her father and step mother each manage to have their own Wikipedia page.
Lucas' doesn't say much, it lists his books, mentions being half brothers to Nathan Scott. There's a brief line about his marriage and divorce to her mother, and she is mentioned though no name is given to the daughter on the site. Then it mentions Brooke and their two sons.
It is Brooke's that is more detailed. In the relationships section even a few rumoured relationships with famous celebrities are listed, Sawyer giggles at the thought and reads on.
The first husband had been a director named Julian Baker, he's some big shot now, Sawyer briefly clicks on his page and instantly recognises his face from the photo. There's a month and year listed for their marriage, separation and when the divorce was finalised.
It doesn't have to be written down in black and white but it practically is. The next paragraph mentions the month and year that Brooke and Lucas had married, it mentions they have twin sons together and the year they were born.
The maths doesn't add up.
She feels lied to, she's heart broken, and she goes to her father in tears and asks if Jude and Davis are really her brothers. Sawyer loves them. She can't imagine them not being hers, she promises it won't change anything, she's already starting to accept that she's biologically an only child.
Brooke sucks in her lips, and while she tells her step daughter to sit down Lucas quickly calls Peyton and his ex-wife decides to rush over, she lives only six houses down so she arrives before Sawyer's calmed down enough to sit at the kitchen table.
They had done so much side by side it seemed natural that Peyton would be here as well, Sawyer was her daughter too after all, and she'd been an active part in her first marriage's complicated ending.
Lucas lets go of his daughter and sits beside his wife; Peyton is next to Sawyer.
The first thing he reassures Sawyer is that Jude and Davis are most definitely his children and her biological brothers.
Sawyer doesn't believe it. Then who the fuck is Julian Baker?
Brooke answers that one. He was my husband, she says it barely more than a whisper.
A photo is slapped down as evidence, Sawyer still thinks they're lying even though her parents have never been the type to lie to them.
They just haven't told them everything.
The three adults sigh, Brooke had known this day would come, and seeing she has always considered herself the most culpable and the fact Sawyer was not her biological child, she answers this one too before Peyton or Lucas can object.
She keeps it simple because Sawyer doesn't need the details, or mental pictures.
The truth is I was married to Julian when I fell pregnant to your father, we didn't know who… was their dad, not at first.
Oh. Sawyer is taken aback.
Lucas takes over then; he holds Brooke's hand but is looking at his daughter when he tells her that sometimes things just happen. Sawyer finds that hard to believe, a penis doesn't just happen to fall into a vagina. She doesn't say that though.
He tells her it was one time and after they'd both tried to fix their marriages, that Julian had wanted to accept the twins as his own but it didn't work out that way, some marriages weren't meant to last.
Before he finishes, he looks at Brooke and gives a smile. While others are.
Her parents had a sordid affair, Sawyer realises, and then she goes over it all again and she realises that it hadn't just been Brooke who had still been married.
You cheated on Mom with Brooke? It was an odd question for Sawyer to get her head around. Brooke had been with her Dad for as long as she could really remember, she loved her step mom who had helped raise her. She loved her two moms and Sawyer had always loved how close they were, they were best friends. None of it made sense.
So Sawyer says that, feeling like her mind is exploding, shouldn't you hate each other? She asks in wonder.
Peyton laughs because she's never been worried about this conversation happening, not like Brooke had.
I love Brooke. Hell, it could have been me with her if I'd had a chance.
Sawyer groans at that and Peyton turns serious, she gently tugs on one of Sawyers blonde curls.
Peyton tells her daughter that marriage is not always so easy, that her marriage to Lucas was not like Brooke's, and that when they were married they didn't get along like they did now as friends. They tried to make it work because they loved her so much, they wanted to give her a family.
Then Peyton admits she'd had an affair first, she admits when Lucas was with Brooke she hadn't cared, she glances at Lucas then and apologises. She'd felt no guilt with her affair, and when he'd slept with Brooke and his anger had turned to guilt it had been easier to deal with, she'd been grateful.
It was a long time ago, Lucas says.
And Peyton agrees, nodding, she tells Sawyer that everything happens for a reason, that everything turned out the way it was meant to. Because of all the things that used to look like mistakes, like a marriage that failed, like an unplanned pregnancy resulting from an affair, they weren't mistakes.
Because their family was not a mistake, and Peyton loved their family. Sawyer does too.
It doesn't bother her now she's not confused; her brothers are still her brothers and her parents are still her parents.
Brooke decides that she and Lucas should explain their beginnings to the twins as well. Get ahead of it before they find a picture or questions ones that don't exist, or snoop and find the paperwork about their birth certificates.
This time Peyton isn't there, or Sawyer, and the boys listen in silence as their parents admit that they'd both been married when they made the twins, which was already too much information for the two teenagers. Brooke tells them about Julian, who they didn't remember but who had been the first father they ever had.
The pictures came out of hiding, Brooke chose one that used to be her favourite before everything went so wrong with Julian, in it he looks so happy, a twin in each arm, the sun shining behind them.
Jude doesn't think too much on it, he shrugs it off because to him it doesn't matter, he doesn't remember any of this, all he knows is Lucas, all he knows is the family he has.
Davis doesn't take it so well, the feeling of being lied to doesn't leave him so quickly. Thoughts run through his mind. He'd been so close to being a totally different person, and that was weird to him. He wonders how Julian could have walked away so easily, didn't he care, yes he wasn't their real dad but still?
It bugged Davis.
The sullen teenager has trouble imagining his parents with other people, he can't picture them cheating and lying, its all too much for him. How can he look his mother in the eye, can he even trust his dad is his dad, what if that was just another lie?
For weeks Davis doesn't talk to his parents, he barely talks to his siblings, he goes to school and then when he comes home he escapes to his room.
Curiosity has Davis searching for Julian Baker, he finds an email address and sends him an email. It's two weeks before Julian reads it, it is such a surprise that Julian doesn't even know how to reply.
Every night Julian writes a reply and then deletes it, for three months until he finally hits send.
Davis Scott had been waiting, and while he waited, he thought. When he wakes up that morning and sees Julian has replied to him his curiosity is gone. Davis stops himself before he opens the email, he realises it doesn't matter what Julian has to say. Davis knows who he is. He clicks delete and goes to join the rest of his family for breakfast. Hugging his Mom before stealing Jude's drink.
Time almost blinks by, and one cool night Brooke finds herself waiting at a bar. It's been thirty years, she's in her fifties now though she could easily pass for early forties, maybe late thirties she tells herself. Self-care, good genetics, make up and hair dye help. She's a grandmother now with more grandchildren than children.
They haven't been here in years, and Brooke sips her drink until something causes the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. She can still feel his burning blue stare.
Lucas walks towards her, clean shaven, his silver hair smoothed back, she liked it this length, long enough to run her hands through, to hold onto to. He's still sexy, she eyes him up and down, her silver fox.
They have dinner, drink a little too much, and head back to the same hotel room from all those years before. It's their anniversary after all.
The anniversary of the best mistake they ever made.
This time they don't talk all night, they see each other every day so they don't need to catch up on their lives and they don't have marriage trouble to discuss. They skip straight to the more enjoyable part of having an empty room to themselves.
It's far from quick, they undress each other slowly, enjoying each and every moment together, each kiss more passionate than the one before until finally falling down onto the bed.
They take their time, and afterwards they lay together, not going anywhere because they don't have to. They are in the arms they belong to.
For second Brooke remembers a moment from long ago, she thinks back onto her ex-husband with fondness while she savours the happy twenty-eight years she's spent with Lucas. She wouldn't take back a thing.
No regrets. She smiles kissing her husband's bare chest as he asks her what did she say.
Her answer is another kiss, her answer is a life time of more kisses.