Chapter Eighteen—New Beginnings

Two weeks later, Brooke walked into work sporting a head ache. She wasn't hung over—not even alcohol could have saved her from this situation—but living in a house with Kate, Maya and Rachel was proving to be difficult. They weren't exactly blending well together, and Brooke was the middle man between her step mother and her best friend. For starters, Maya just wouldn't sleep through the night and her cries echoed through the house, keeping everyone awake to all hours of the morning. Rachel didn't help much with the noise situation either. She loved having people over at the weekends, which in turn was keeping Maya awake and causing conflict. It was uncomfortable for everyone involved and Brooke was growing tired of listening to their complaints about each other, especially when they refused to just talk it out between themselves.

As she did her rounds and then made her way up to the NICU, she saw Lucas checking over their littlest patient and sighed when she remembered what today was—today was the day Peyton was due back from Africa. She remembered Lucas telling her about their conversation at the wedding, but it hadn't been mentioned since. Since the wedding, Brooke and Lucas had managed to maintain a friendship, though the topic of Peyton was one that was rarely approached.

Lucas soon noticed Brooke had walked into the room; "His scar looks pretty nice, I'm just going to apply some more lotion here." He explained as Brooke nodded.

They stood in a momentary silence before Brooke thought she would chance her luck and see what Lucas had to say. "You know, I've been playing the role of listener for Kate and Rachel's problems the past few weeks and I think you need someone in that role right now too."

"What do you mean?" he asked as he put the lotion on the baby.

"Peyton's coming home tonight." Brooke reminded him. Lucas sighed as Brooke visibly noticed his mood change from bad to worse. "She's coming home from across the world, to what? A locked house?" She asked. When Lucas and Peyton had moved out of Brooke's, it made financial sense to just move in together, but Lucas was regretting that right about now.

"Why do you think everyone thinks they have a right to a front row seat to my relationship?" Lucas asked as he finally looked up at her, the frustration evident across his face.

"I don't know about everyone else, but since she's the person you dumped me for, I'm going to encourage you to not make it a complete nightmare for yourself, so it doesn't make me feel worse. Then there's the fact that you told me I was a better girlfriend to you than Peyton—" she semi-teased. She wasn't about to let him get away with being frustrated with her when she was just trying to help.

"Brooke, show's closed, I'm not selling tickets" he cut her off, just as Rachel walked around the corner.

"Dr. Scott—"

"What?" Lucas asked, a little more aggressively than intended.

Rachel's face fell as she glared at Lucas; "Your gastro flap harvest is ready when you are." She said just as aggressively.

"That's great." He said through his teeth as he roughly set his things down and walked past the girls.

"I—Yeah." Brooke said with a sigh, not knowing how she could even try to defend Lucas to Rachel, who just rolled her eyes and followed him out of the NICU.

That evening, Brooke lay in the on-call room, avoiding going home. She knew she should probably go to try and create peace before world war three erupted, but she just needed a little bit of quiet before she went and dealt with the issue. She really wanted this living situation to work, and that meant coming up with some compromises and persuading Rachel and Kate to be a little more patient and understanding.

The door opened and Brooke opened one eye to see who had walked in. It was Lucas and he looked so defeated as he slumped over to the bed.

"Hey" he greeted as he lifted Brooke's legs and sat at the end of the bed, letting her legs fall back over his.

"You look about as happy at the thought of going home as I do." She observed before looking back up at the ceiling.

"What are you avoiding?" Lucas asked.

"A blow up between my best friend and my step mother. I would ask you the same question, but I think I already know the answer..."

Lucas shrugged; "Yeah well... I figured sleeping here would give Peyton some space in her own bed."

"So no homecoming then?"

Lucas paused for a minute, before deciding that he should just be honest with Brooke. "No. Before she left—before she left, I asked her what we were fighting for cause I really don't think there is anything to fight for. I wanted to end it properly there and then, but she wouldn't let me. She wanted me to wait these two weeks before we had the conversation."

Brooke shot up into a seated position; "What?" she asked as she crossed her legs under her.

"Peyton is quite honestly one of the most selfish people I have ever met... our relationship became all about her and i don't want that. I know I can be a bit of a jackass at times..." he self scolded as Brooke scoffed. "But I also know what I deserve."

"Lucas—"

"I also don't need a lecture from you—" he began, figuring Brooke would somehow try and stick up for Peyton because that's just the kind of person she was.

Brooke rolled her eyes; "I wasn't going to give you one, I was going to give you a bit of sympathy, but I sense you don't want that either."

"No. I just want a bit of normality. Can this friendship be my normality?" he asked.

Brooke smirked; "Dude, there is nothing normal about this friendship."

Lucas chuckled just as the door swung open, and Peyton appeared, surprised to see the pair sitting there.

"It appears I'm making a bit of a habit of interrupting your conversations." Peyton said awkwardly as she dropped her bag at the door.

Brooke quickly glanced between the two before standing up; "I'm gonna… yeah… welcome home Peyton." She said awkwardly before hurrying out of the room before a fight erupted.

Peyton and Lucas stood in an uncomfortable silence for a moment, before Peyton decided to make it even more uncomfortable.

"So, you're with Brooke now?" she asked.

"No, Peyton. I'm not with Brooke. We're friends."

Peyton grimaced. How could they be friends after everything that happened? "Weird."

"Yeah I know, but it works." Lucas grumbled, but with great insistence as he ran his hand down his face. He was so tired and now he had to find the strength to have this conversation.

Peyton decided now was not the time to have the Brooke discussion and picked a different topic; "Why aren't you at home?" she asked.

"I thought you would be at home." they still hadn't done anything with their apartment because they still hadn't had that talk because Peyton was doing a lot of avoiding. He just couldn't understand how she could live like that - because to him it just wasn't living.

"I just—I assumed that—"

Lucas sighed; "It's fine, just go sleep there tonight, in a real bed."

"… thanks. I've been flying all day, I'm exhausted." She said. "But—can we talk before I go? I really want us to talk Lucas. I really want us to make this work."

Lucas looked at the woman in front of him. He barely recognised her anymore. He didn't know what to say to her. He was still so angry. He was sick of Peyton putting herself first. He was sick of being put on the side lines. He told her what he wanted, and she didn't listen.

"I'm not sure that we're worth fighting for." Lucas confessed as Peyton took a step back, like she had just been wounded. "I said it two weeks ago and I still mean it Peyton." He said as he stood from the bed.

"Is this about Brooke?" she asked quietly.

"No, this is about us." Lucas made clear. There was no reason to bring Brooke back into this.

"It's funny, she used to be worried about me and now I'm worried about her. How times have changed." Peyton said with a scoff.

"There is nothing going on between me and Brooke—" he said for what felt like the hundredth time.

"I'm not an idiot Lucas, people talk. I know you've gotten closer since Ted died, I know—I know she's been there for you too." Peyton told him. She may not have said anything, but she knew. "You loved her. I know you did so I wouldn't blame you if those feelings came back—"

"Peyton—"

"But you chose me. I am your girlfriend, you should be putting me first, not Brooke. Is that really so hard?" she selfishly begged.

Lucas scoffed, "I don't know Peyton, you tell me? You ran off to Africa, I asked you to stay, you didn't listen to me, you didn't listen to what was going on in my life, so something tells me you don't know the first thing about putting someone else first! It's always about you."

Peyton remained silent, not knowing how to respond. She was so wrapped in her own world that she couldn't look past it to how Lucas was really feeling and how desperate he was to just get out.

"So like I said. I know it's not worth fighting for." He reiterated, before opening the door and leaving the room.

Brooke paced the living room in front of Kate, waiting for Rachel to get home. She didn't know what came over her, but as soon as she left that on-call room, she was determined to make them sort things out. She really didn't need the added stress of trying to get them to get along. She heard Rachel on the front porch talking with Johnny. She immediately stormed towards the door and flung it open, not even sorry that she had interrupted their private moment.

"You, in here." She said as she dragged Rachel into the house. "Your love fest can wait Johnny" Brooke said as she closed the door in his face just as he started to ask if he could at least wait in Rachel's room.

Brooke pulled Rachel by the hand into the living room and sat her down beside Kate.

"Ok. I live here too, and that means I get a say in how this living situation is going to work, and I say you two need to figure your crap out." Brooke told them. "I know that families fight, my family is a prime example of that, and I miss them so much, and while I miss them, I need you two to be my family. That may mean a little bit of bickering, but it also means compromise. It also means trying to create a harmonious living environment for the sake of all of our sanities! So—talk." Brooke said as she crossed her arms as Kate and Rachel sat, a little taken aback by Brooke's exclamation.

"I'm sorry about Maya's crying and walking her up and down the hallway outside your bedroom… it wasn't fair." Kate apologised.

"I'm sorry I said you had fleas." Rachel said with her arms stubbornly crossed over her chest.

"Rachel!" Brooke exclaimed, knowing that was not the way to win Kate over.

Rachel sighed and turned to look at Kate, "Sometimes, I don't know how to talk to you. You were effectively my boss and now you're my roommate and it's weird seeing you out of that habitat and it's weird seeing you and Brooke actually getting along. I don't know how to take it all…" she confessed as Brooke encouraged her to keep going. "But… I do know that you are Brooke's family and Brooke is my family, which means we're going to have to get along… because we're family now too." She insisted.

Kate and Brooke were touched by Rachel's surprising words. Maybe this roommate experiment could work out after all.

Meanwhile, Peyton wasn't prepared to just accept that her relationship was over. Lucas didn't think they were worth fighting for, but she sure as hell did, and she made sure he knew that. She immediately moved back into the house and starting cooking him dinner and acting like everything was fine, much to the annoyance of Lucas. Her blasé attitude to what he had said was driving him crazy. He needed his space, but she just wouldn't listen to him.

"I don't understand why she can't be civil and rational and realise that she's fighting a losing battle. She won't listen to anything I have to say. Now she's decided that this is the hill she's gotta die on. Of course, that hill is my living room—" Lucas complained to Brooke as they walked down the hallway.

They stopped at the nurse's station and Brooke leaned on the desk "I honestly don't know what you want me to say right now." She replied. She probably wasn't the best person to be talking this thing through with.

"… just go work Brooke" Lucas said defeated as she lifted a tablet from behind the desk.

"If you need a place to crash, your old room is still empty." she offered.

"No, no, it's fine. If I leave, she wins. You know, she does not win my living room. See? That's not civil!" Lucas moaned before walking away, leaving Brooke sighing at the whole thing.

"Lucas, wait" she called as he turned back to her. "You can't keep doing this, you can't turn this into a war." She reasoned. She really didn't want to get in the middle of this, but she figured if she didn't at least try and make Lucas be rational, he'd do something he regretted out of anger and frustration. "She was probably your best friend before you started dating and I don't think that's something you should so easily forget. I know it's hard, I know you're mad, but you just – you need to get out of the house. It's just a house! There are plenty of them in Raleigh. Take the high road, be the better person, or you might end up doing something you can't take back." She encouraged as Lucas nodded his head, realising that ending on a sour note with Peyton maybe wasn't the best idea.

That night, Lucas ended up taking Brooke's offer of a place to crash. Rachel was a little confused when he rocked up at the door, but Brooke had always been in the business of taking in strays. Brooke insisted that it was just for a few nights, but Rachel knew better than to take her word for it. What she was most concerned about was the fact that Lucas was turning to Brooke for help. She knew that they had been friends for the past while, but she worried what it would do to Brooke to have Lucas so close again. To have him leaning on her while he sorted out his relationship.

The following morning, Lucas creeped down the hallway and knocked on Brooke's door. He stuck his head round the door and saw her sleeping.

"Brooke" He whispered loudly.

"What?" Brooke bit back, annoyed that she had been woken up before her alarm.

"Man, I forgot how grouchy you were in the mornings…"

"If you don't like it, then go away." She grumbled into her pillow.

"I need a towel, there's none left in the closet." He told her.

"On the floor" she said as she motioned to the end of her bed.

He picked up the towel and saw that it was still a little damp from when she had used it yesterday. "Fresh." He commented.

"Do you want to damn towel or not?" she snapped, wishing he would just go away.

"Alright, geez…" he said as he held his hands up.

Brooke rolled over and opened her eyes, noticing for the first time that Lucas was standing there in only his boxers. Her eyes widened involuntarily. He looked good. He always looked good. Lucas laughed when he noticed her staring.

"Take a picture Davis, it'll last longer." He teased.

Brooke glared; "shut up" she groaned before she threw her pillow over her head.

Lucas left the room laugh, but his smile fell when he immediately walked into Rachel, who was standing there was a smirk on her face.

"Well. Good morning." She greeted.

"It's not—it's not what it looks like." Lucas immediately defended.

"You don't have to explain anything to me…" she said as she carried her smirk all the way to the bathroom. As much as she worried about Brooke, she also couldn't help but wish they'd get their act together and just be happy.

A short while later, Kate, Rachel and Brooke were all on their way to work and of course Rachel wanted to discuss the fact that Lucas was sneaking around the house this morning.

"So, Lucas is back in his old room..." Kate commented as Brooke rolled her eyes, not liking where this was no doubt going.

"That is not where I saw him this morning…" Rachel said, trying to stir the pot.

"Rachel…" Brooke warned with a glare.

"Where did you see him this morning?" Alex asked.

"Nowhere." Brooke said quickly.

"Coming out of Brooke's room" Rachel added with a shrug, as if it was no big deal.

"Rachel!" Brooke squealed as she turned to smack Rachel on the leg as she sat in the back seat.

"Brooke Penelope Davis you did not." Kate said in a warning tone.

God, it was like living with her mother all over again. Brooke thought as she quickly rushed to defend herself. "I didn't! He was looking for a towel."

"To be honest, I'm surprised he hasn't made it to your bed yet." Rachel added. You could cut the tension between the two of them with a knife.

"We are friends, nothing more." Brooke made clear, wishing this subject would just be dropped. It was making the whole being friends with Lucas thing really, very, very hard.

"Oh please, it's only a matter of time before that one is ignited again…" Rachel grumbled. "Kate, what time do you want us home tonight to help set up for tonight?"

Brooke and Kate looked at each other confused. "What's tonight?"

"The dinner party." Rachel reminded them. Kate had arranged a little dinner party for some of the staff of Raleigh Med. It had been a while since they'd all sat down and just enjoyed themselves and she figured they deserved a nice night amidst the chaos of their jobs.

"The dinner party's not tonight." Kate told him.

"It's on the 14th, that's weeks away." Brooke added.

Rachel rolled his eyes; "Today is the 14th. You all need adult supervision, you can't even keep track of the date…" she scolded as Kate groaned. This day just got a little more stressful.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Haley and Nathan were walking through the hallway. Haley had been thinking a lot about this dinner party they were supposed to go to, and she just felt a little weird about it. It was more than unusual for a resident to be having dinner with a bunch of attendings, and even though Nathan was still a resident, he was already a part of that little clique and Haley felt like an outsider.

"I don't think I'm going to go to this dinner party thing tonight, I think I'm going to work." Haley told him.

Nathan sighed; "Haley, you were invited." He told her, like he'd told her already ten times.

"They don't like me. They're your friends, they're my bosses." Haley told him, completely forgetting the fact that the attendings were still his bosses too, despite the fact that he was good friends with a few of them, particularly Lucas.

"Brooke will be there, she's one of your best friends." Nathan reminded her.

"She's one of you too, she can deny it all she wants but she is. She is in the inner circle. They treat me like a resident, not like a person."

"I want them to know you. Come." He insisted, as he kissed her cheek and walked away.

Haley watched him walk away for a brief moment before she turned her head slightly and saw Brooke staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Haley questioned.

"This little posse that you've been invited to dinner with, controls this place. Not only have I given you an in on multiple occasions, but so has Nathan. You go to that party, you make friends with the chiefs of neuro, cardio and general, you could join team unstoppable. Every surgery in this hospital would be ours. You're coming." Brooke told her, not prepared to take no for an answer.

"No promises." Haley said, still entirely unsure. "and what did I hear about Lucas sleeping in your bed?"

Brooke groaned. They had just arrived, how could she already hear about this?

"Oh my god he did not sleep in my bed, he slept in his old room!" Brooke exclaimed.

Haley grimaced, "Do you really think it's a good idea to sleep with Lucas again?"

"I am not sleeping with Lucas!" she defended. "Even if there was an opportunity for a second time, I wouldn't do it as long as Peyton is in the picture."

Haley smirked; "Oh my god you want to." She said, seeing right through her friend's words. She wouldn't do it while he was with Peyton… but she said nothing about doing it when they were apart.

"Haley—"

"You like Lucas again!" She shouted as Brooke quickly tried to shush her.

"Shut up, I do not it's—it's complicated." She said as she looked at her feet. It wasn't something she was proud of and it certainly wasn't something she was willing to admit.

"Nothing complicated about it. It's practically written in the stars that a Scott and a Davis are meant to be. Not to mention the fact that years ago he was pretty much convinced he was going to marry you." Haley reminded her.

"I'm walking away now." Brooke told her as she rushed away to get on with her day. She really did need people encouraging her to go after Lucas again. She feared it would only end horribly, despite what her heart was trying to convince her too.

That evening, the dinner party rolled around and after trying to make herself look semi-presentable and not sleep-deprived, Brooke walked into the kitchen and saw Kate looking flustered. She was trying to be put together two drinks for Mouth and his new girlfriend, but she could barely put one foot in front of the other. When she finally finished putting the drinks together, she froze and just stared at them.

"Were you going to do anything with those?" Brooke asked, snapping Kate out of her trance.

"Uh yes, club soda for Mouth and white wine for his friend" Kate told her as Brooke lifted the drinks and brought them over to Mouth and Pia. What was Kate's problem? She had been full of energy all day, but as soon as people started arriving, she looked startled. Like something had taken her by surprise.

"Oh Brooke!" Mouth said with a smile. "This is our very own golden girl, Brooke Davis. This is Pia." She introduced as Brooke handed them her drinks.

"Very funny." Brooke said with a laugh at Mouth's golden girl comment before turning back to Pia. "Hi—have we met before? You look really familiar." Brooke said. She felt like she knew her from somewhere, but she couldn't place where. Pia gulped. She knew exactly where Brooke recognised her from. But she didn't think now was the time to bring that up.

"Uh, I don't—"

Before Pia could continue, the doorbell rang, and Brooke excused herself to go answer it.

She smiled softly when she opened it to see Lucas standing there.

"Hey" she greeted.

"Hey, you look nice." He complimented as he handed her a bottle of wine.

"Thanks, so do you."

Before anything else could be said, Peyton walked out of the downstairs toilet. They all awkwardly stood there, not knowing what to do, before Peyton took the initiative and walked away.

"What do you think the minimum amount of time is that I have to be here before it counts as 'yeah, Lucas was here?'" Lucas asked, not wanting to sit and make small talk with Peyton all night.

"20 minutes minimum… if this weren't a dinner party. Your empty seat is going to give you away. So, you're staying and you're going to have a good time." She said with a tight smile as she patted his arm.

"Alright mom…" Lucas teased as Brooke smirked and rolled her eyes, while a jealous Peyton watched on from the side lines.

As the evening progressed, it was proving to be a little bit of a flop. Dinner was no where near ready due to the hostesses forgetting they were cooking in the first place and Mouth had left Pia alone with a bunch of strangers after he was called back in for an emergency surgery. Nathan and Lucas had even resorted to ordering tacos on the sly to make up for their hunger. Brooke walked over just as they were ordering them and they slipped their phones away as to not be scolded.

"On a scale of one to ten how much does this party suck?" Brooke asked.

"Well everyone's here for the free food which is nowhere to be seen, it's like you didn't even want to have this party, did someone force you into having this party?" Lucas questioned.

"God, I'd love a taco right about now…" Brooke mumbled as Lucas and Nathan subtly looked at each other.

"Make that 16." Nathan told Lucas as he lifted out his phone.

Pia soon walked into the sitting room and went to lift her coat.

"Sorry, I'm just grabbing my coat—"

"You're leaving?" Brooke questioned. She hadn't really had the chance to talk to Pia, but she seemed like a nice person, she would happily like to talk to her some more. Brooke had always been fond of Mouth and she was naturally protective over her friends - so she wanted to make sure that Pia was right for him.

"I'm not feeling so great—"

"Mouth will be right back, I know this is a really tight bunch and it is really easy to feel stuck outside, but once they know you, you'll have friends for life. They're nice. We're nice." She said as she looked at Lucas and Nathan who realised they should be agreeing with Brooke in that moment. They quickly nodded and mumbled various choruses of 'yeah, we're nice.'

"I appreciate that, but I should really just go and call it a night." Pia insisted, but Rachel walked into the room and told them dinner was ready.

Brooke ushered Pia into the room and insisted she at least stayed to eat. She may as well since it's what she was here for. Brooke told her to sit down opposite herself and Lucas, so they could talk a little bit more, making Pia more and more apprehensive. Brooke had no idea who she was and if she ever did find out, she sensed things would explode.

Things started off pleasantly as they all made small talk with Pia. It soon however took a turn for the worse when talk of jobs came up. Pia was also a surgeon, but at a hospital that no one hoped they would hear speak of again.

"Where exactly do you work Pia?" Brooke asked, oblivious to how tensely Pia was sitting. She was dreading this question all night, it was why she was trying to leave, so not to upset anyone.

"A smaller suburban centre out by the—"

"She works at Raleigh South Hospital." Kate told them, seeing as Pia was willing to dance around the subject.

Brooke's face fell as everyone looked even more confused. It didn't take long for people to twig why this was an issue as Lucas frantically looked at Brooke, who looked completely frozen.

"Raleigh South? Isn't that where um—" Peyton started as Kate cut her off.

"That's where Ted died. Isn't that right Pia?" Kate asked. She had recognised Pia as soon as she'd walked through the door. She was one of Ted's doctors. She was one of the doctors who failed to assess that he had a serious head injury that needed to be checked. If they had have checked it and rectified the situation with only a few burr holes in his skull, Ted might be sitting at this dinner table with them all right now.

Pia gulped; "That's right."

"Perfect Pia killed my husband. Excuse me." Kate quickly said as she stood from the table and left the room before she completely broke. She let her anger get the better of her, but she didn't want to see the fall out that was about to ensue - especially from Brooke.

"What did she say?" Brooke asked in a whisper, wanting to hear it from her mouth.

"I think what she meant—what she was trying to say—" Pia said, stumbling over her words.

"So, you were one of Ted's doctors?" Haley asked, wanting to clarify what was going on - for everyone at the table, but especially for Brooke.

"I was one of them, yes." Pia confirmed.

Everything started to click in Brooke's head as she saw Pia's face standing in Ted's hospital room as clear as day. She saw her in the corridors, she saw her in the room when Ted's life support was turned off. She was right there. How could Brooke have missed it? She figured it was because she'd tried to blank out as much of that day as possible.

"You were there that night. You treated him. That's where I recognise you from." Brooke said as Pia nodded.

"The night Kate's husband came in—"

"My dad. Ted was my dad. Which I think you know. So don't talk about him like he was nothing to me when I am right beside you." Brooke snapped. How could she be in her house right now? How could this be happening? How could Kate let her sit there and talk to her when she knew who she was? "What happened to him?" Brooke asked quietly as the whole room fell into an eerie silence. "because when I got there, he was brain dead, brain dead from an injury that could have been fixed. So how did he die Pia?" Brooke demanded to know. If someone had have just attended to his head injury, Ted would have been fine.

"Maybe this isn't the best idea—" Peyton said, desperate to relieve the tension around the table.

Brooke banged her hand against the table, "No Peyton!" she shouted. "She was there, I want to hear what happened, I know he would have been fine, so what did you do? Did you make a mistake? Just tell me what happened!" Brooke shouted as the tears streamed down her face.

"I was the resident on call that night. We were understaffed, five came in with him and her husba—your dad was bleeding in his chest and abdomen."

"My dad died of a brain bleed." Brooke stated.

"He was bleeding into his chest, a choice was made to skip CT. I thought he needed one. I should have pushed harder—"

"Hell yeah you should have!" Brooke shouted. She knew exactly what had happened to Ted. Kate had told her everything. But she wanted to hear it from her mouth. She wanted to hear exactly what she did wrong. She wanted to make sure that she knew it.

"Then I was stuck waiting on a neuro attending who was not good enough - I'm very sorry. I should just go." Pia said as she made her way towards the door.

"I didn't see him, my brothers didn't see him, Kate didn't see him before he was put on a ventilator, you did. You were the last one to see him—" Brooke shouted after her. "Did he say anything to you? Can you tell me what his last words were?" Brooke said as her voice finally started to break.

"I think that's enough." Rachel said, seeing that this wasn't going to help Brooke in the slightest.

"I want you gone. Now." Brooke said through her teeth as she stormed up the stairs to find Kate and confront her about what just happened. She'd basically just fed her to the wolves down. She'd caused a commotion and didn't even see it through. She barged straight into Kate's room. Kate took one look at the anger written all over Brooke's face and ran her hand through her hair.

"I really do not want to talk about this—"

"You knew who she was all night and you never bothered telling me." Brooke said angrily as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Brooke—"

"She killed my dad, you invite her in here, you let me sit there and talk to her all night—why would you do that to me?"

It was now Kate turn to get angry as she stood up and glared straight through Brooke; "I did this to you?"

"You should have told me!"

"I did nothing to you. I lost my husband and the father of daughter—"

"I was his kid too!" Brooke said, shutting Kate up. "Although I know that is your favourite thing to forget!"

Lucas appeared at the door just as Brooke exploded and realised he should probably make this stop before it ended horribly. He knew Brooke and he knew she would regret getting angry with Kate in the heat of the moment.

"Brooke—"

"Get her out of my room!" Kate shouted as Lucas quickly ushered her out and into her own room.

Once Lucas closed the door, Brooke started pacing the floor, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Do you need me to call your mom or Harry?" Lucas asked, desperately trying to look for a solution to her sadness.

Brooke finally stopped pacing and took a deep breath; "No, I just—I need a minute."

"That was a horrible night for a lot of people—"

Brooke turned to look at him; "Yeah. I know. Yet Kate just threw me out of her room when we should be in this together. I asked her why she didn't tell me. That's all I wanted to know. She shouldn't have let it get that far, but she did, now she's acting like she's the only one who lost something." She said, wanting to defend herself. She had every right to feel this way, this was her father they were talking about. "I was doing really good." Brooke said quietly. "The last year has been hell and I am finally getting back on my feet, starting to feel some sort of normality, and then this happens, and I feel my life crumbling all over again." She confessed as Lucas took a step forward and rubbed his hands up and down her arms. Brooke scoffed; "And here you are. Standing being the perfect guy. The perfect guy that I can't have."

Lucas gulped. He never expected Brooke to admit such a thing. He always thought there would be this unspoken tension between them. "I am not perfect. My relationship is falling apart and—nothing in me really wants to stop that from happening. Because here you are, in all your messy glory, being the messy glory that I can't have." He said as he pushed some of her hair out of her face. Sometimes it felt like they might never get their chance, but they could only hope.

Brooke wiped her eyes; "I guess we're just perfect messes."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Maybe one day we can be perfect messes together."

"Yeah. One day."

I have a feeling you guys are *really* going to like the next chapter...