Rachel hosts a game night that results in some serious tension between Brooke and Lucas...

Chapter Twenty-Nine- The Games You Play

One Friday morning, Rachel approached Brooke and Haley as they stood looking through some patient charts at the nurse's station. Ever since her breakup with Johnny 3 months ago, Rachel had been keen to get back in the dating game. While out a few weeks ago, she met a seemingly nice guy named James and things had been going well and she knew the next stage was introducing him to the most important people in her world.

"I think I like James" Rachel blurted out as Haley and Brooke looked at each other in a moment of confusion.

"We're… glad?" Haley questioned, not entirely sure where Rachel was going with this.

"I mean it's been over three weeks and you only think you like him?" Brooke questioned.

"My mom was always the one to tell me whether a guy was a keeper or not and she didn't meet Johnny until we were well established as a couple and look how that turned out, and now I can't ask her cause she's in Costa Rica with my dad, so I may not find out if he's a keep or—"

"A serial killer?" Haley questioned with a grimace.

"Haley!" Rachel scolded. "No, a keeper or just… not for me." She said with a groan as she slumped over the desk in a dramatic fashion.

"I'm just kidding, I'm sure he's not a serial killer, he's too nice" Haley tried to reassure.

"You know who says that? Neighbours of serial killers." Brooke joked as Haley held back her laugh. "Maybe we should meet him." Brooke suggested. "I think we've got pretty good judgement."

"You're on a sex high cause Lucas got jealous and now they can't keep their hands off each other, so the endorphins are running around her head like crazy, you'll think he's great no matter what" Haley teased.

"Hey!" Brooke said with a little laugh. She and Lucas had been even more frisky than usual lately, but that was totally besides the point. "My judgement is perfectly intact thank you very much…"

"You know this isn't a bad idea…" Rachel decided. "Hell, I probably trust you more than my mother so why not? We can set up something casual like a games night at my place."

"And he'll never know that the real game is us judging him…" Brooke said with a devious smirk.

"Bring Lucas and Nathan too. I need a guy's perspective." Rachel added. "You know, I'm just going to invite everyone, more voices is better than none."

"Oh! Invite the new cardio attending." Brooke said. She'd been meaning to invite him out with them for a few weeks now, but it had never materialised. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

"Morello?"

"Yeah, make him feel welcome."

Haley groaned; "You don't have a thing for the new attending, do you?"

Brooke gave her a disapproving look; "Are you kidding me?"

"I'm sorry but we both know you have a past with new attendings—"

"One new attending. One." She said firmly, before walking on. What was it with people thinking she was doomed to have relationships with any new and attractive attendings?

Later that afternoon, Peyton paged Lucas down to the ER to assess a teenage girl whose ear had been chopped off in a cooking incident involving her hysterical mother and a fear of bees…

"Ok, this should look like an easy fix" Lucas concluded as he bandaged up the wound again. "I'll get an OR booked and we'll have you fixed up in no time." He said with a little smile. He briefly looked up and saw Brooke working at the station.

"… are you two a thing?" the young girl asked as Lucas eyed her curiously.

"A thing?" he asked with a little laugh.

"Uh, yeah, just from that one glance alone I was getting some major vibes." She said as she looked over at Brooke again. "Damn, she should be a model not a surgeon… but it would be fitting if you two were a thing you're both stupid hot."

Lucas chuckled, "She's my fiancée."

"Oh damn, fair play Dr. Scott. How'd you propose?" she asked. "I'm a sucker for a good love story."

"Uh… it's a long story, but I had planned to propose to her and then we got in this really stupid but monumental fight that stopped us properly speaking for about a week and then I realised that life was too short for that. We made up and I proposed while we were in bed…"

"Oh my god, you're going to make me cry! I like the soft and sweet ones, nothing to elaborate. It sounds perfect." She concluded. Lucas smiled and looked up just as Owen approached Brooke at the station.

"Who is that?"

"That's the new guy…"

"Dr. Davis" Owen greeted as Brooke looked up and smiled at him.

"Dr. Morello, how are you?" she asked as she set her tablet down.

"I'm good, you?" he asked as he rested his hand on the front desk.

"Yeah, I'm good too. By the way, we're having a games night tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to come, get to know a few people."

"Who's we?"

"My best friend Rachel is organising it so we can all go over and judge her new boyfriend. It's sort of become this thing that anyone's welcome to, so we figured it would be cool if you could come." Brooke encouraged. Rachel really was inviting everyone, even Peyton had scored an invite.

"Yeah, that sounds awesome." Owen said with a smile.

"Great, I'll send you the details later." She said as she turned and walked away.

Lucas watched from afar as Owen smirked at Brooke as she walked away. Lucas clenched his jaw and left the ER again. He felt a little uncomfortable by how Owen was looking at her and prayed he didn't try his luck – because it wouldn't end well.

"Oh… competition." His patient said as Lucas snapped out of it and looked back down at her. "I don't think he stands a chance. I saw the diamond on her finger, there is no way in hell she would give that up."

That night, Brooke walked into Rachel's house with Lucas in tow as Rachel came to the door looking nervous.

"Hi!" she greeted, taking their coats from them.

"Hey, is he here?" Brooke asked as she tried to peak into the living room.

"Yeah, he's here." Rachel said as she took their coats and Brooke let out a little squeal, excited to meet the guy after all they had talked about him. She really hoped she didn't get those serial killer vibes that Haley was talking about…

"Sorry we're a little late, I wanted to get Sophie to sleep before we left, she's going through a bit of a phase, won't let anyone touch her except us." Brooke said with a little frown, feeling guilty for leaving her daughter.

"It's ok" Rachel quickly dismissed as James walked into the hallway.

"You must be some of the surgeon friends. Are any of your friends in finance? I'm trying to keep up here!" James joked as Rachel began to laugh in an over the top fashion, causing Brooke and Lucas to look at her funny. Rachel wasn't really a laugher. This was odd behaviour.

"This is James, he's being modest, he's done a lot of algorithm work with financial companies" Rachel told them proudly, pretending she actually knew what that meant.

"Cool" Lucas said as he shook James's hand; "I'm Lucas"

"Brooke" Brooke introduced as she also shook his hand. The four of them stood in an awkward silence for a brief moment before the doorbell went again and Brooke dashed to open it, her keenness fading when she saw Owen and Peyton standing there.

Brooke bypassed Peyton and looked at Owen with a smile, "Owen! I'm so glad you made it."

Peyton looked between Brooke and Owen, "Oh, you two are a thing now?" she asked before laughing. "Well that's a thrill. Lucas, what did I tell you?" she said looking over at him. "Brooke would wimp out and move on eventually! I just never suspected the new attending… then again, Brooke loves a new attending." she grumbled before stepping into the house.

Brooke turned to Rachel, "Why did we invite her again?"

Rachel grimaced and mouthed an apology as Brooke took a breath and turned back to Owen, "Hi"

"Uh… hi" Owen said awkwardly, not really sure how to follow Peyton's abrupt introduction.

"You must be Dr. Morello, I'm Lucas Scott. Brooke's fiancée." Lucas said as he used one hand to shake Owen's hand and the other to wrap tightly around Brooke's waist.

"Nice to meet you man." Owen said.

Peyton chose this moment to jump in again; "Lucas gets very territorial over Brooke even though he's not really that into her."

"Peyton!" Lucas scolded as Peyton smirked. Why did she bother coming here if she was just going to cause mayhem? As she walked past Lucas, he could smell the alcohol on her and soon realised that that was probably what was doing the talking.

"Too far?" she asked with a laugh, not really caring or not if it was.

"Can I get anyone a drink?" Rachel asked, desperately wanting to break up this awkward moment.

"Oh, no, I brought my own." Peyton said as she lifted out a bottle of vodka.

"This is going to be fun…" Brooke grumbled. She tried to walk away but Lucas's arm remained firmly in place. "Am I allowed to walk over there without you attached to me?" she questioned with a glare as Lucas released her and let her walk away.

"Stonehenge!"

"Yes!" Brooke shouted as she walked back over to Lucas and gave him a high five. Games night was well and truly underway—and Brooke and Lucas were killing it at Pictionary. They really did make a great team.

"You got that from a rectangle?" Peyton asked as Brooke sat down beside Lucas.

"Yes, are you going to question the integrity of everyone here tonight or just my fiancée?" Lucas challenged.

Brooke sighed; "Why do you keep calling me your fiancée, I have a name." What was his deal tonight?

"Why are you mad at me?" Lucas asked as his head shot round to look at her.

"You're the one who's had his jaw clenched all night." Brooke told him as she clenched her jaw.

"Uh—Gatina you're up." Owen said as he awkwardly broke up their fight.

Before Rachel could start, there was a knock at the door. "That must be Kate." She said as she went to open the door, but was surprised to find a stranger on the other side.

"Hi. Can I help you?" Rachel asked politely.

"Yeah, is James here?" the woman asked as she stood with her arms folded.

"James? Yeah, yeah, I'm his girlfriend Rachel—or—I don't know, we haven't really put a label on it—" Rachel rambled.

"Yeah? Well we have, I'm Caroline, his wife." She announced as Rachel's face fell.

James rushed into the hallway with a face like thunder; "Caroline? You had me followed?"

"I tracked your phone."

"You tracked my phone?!" he questioned, completely outraged.

"Because I know your game every time you take a work trip, but this time, I wasn't going to let you get away with it!"

"Oh my god you're married?!" Rachel exclaimed as everyone watched awkwardly from the living room. "I am so sorry, I had no idea…" she said to Caroline.

"Of course not, his lying skills are impeccable."

"Ok, clearly this is something you two need to deal with, but not in this house. Come on, out." Lucas said as he herded them out the door.

"Rachel—" James said, but Lucas was quick to stop him.

"No, forget this address and delete her phone number. Come on." Lucas said they left the house and he closed the door.

Everyone stood there for a few moments, unsure what to do.

"I'm a home wrecker…" Rachel mumbled as Brooke was quick to her feet.

"No, you're not, that home was wrecked long before you got involved." She said as she placed her hands on Rachel's arms.

Lucas cleared his throat; "We should probably go…" he said, figuring Rachel wouldn't be in the mood for company anymore.

"This was—fun?" Owen said as more of a question while he slipped his coat on, not really sure what to think of the whole evening.

"I'm an adulterer." Rachel said as the guilt started to overwhelm her. "I knew something was up"

"… at least there were no serial killer vibes." Haley added as everyone furiously nodded in agreement.

"… not helpful."

Peyton sighed, "So many rules in a relationship that no one bothers to abide by these days. People cheat, people sleep with whoever they want, people always leave." She grumbled as she looked over at Brooke and Lucas.

Owen frowned at her; "You're not driving, are you?" clearly the alcohol had gone straight to her head.

Peyton smirked; "Why are you offering me a ride?" she said suggestively.

Owen smirked back; "If you want one." Clearly Owen wasn't after Brooke, but rather anyone who was willing to sleep with him.

Lucas glared at him; "This isn't spring break Morello."

"Why don't you pay attention to your own fiancée as you keep reminding us?" Peyton questioned.

"Peyton—"

"Night!" she shouted over the top of Lucas as she and Owen left.

"I guess we should relieve the babysitter. Uh… do you need anything before we go?" Brooke asked as she held Rachel's hand.

Rachel shook her head; "I'm ok."

"Are you sure?" Lucas reiterated, not liking leaving her in this state.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Brooke hugged her quickly before she and Lucas left the house. What a night.

Brooke sat in the passenger seat as Lucas drove through the silent roads of Raleigh. She looked absentmindedly out the window trying to take in everything that had happened tonight, mainly, why Lucas was being a territorial idiot. It was one thing for him to be a little jealous over the younger residents, but he took things too far tonight.

"Quite a night huh?" Lucas asked.

"Yep." Brooke simply replied.

Lucas reached out for her hand; "You sound tired, you should—"

Brooke pulled her arm away from him; "Don't—don't touch me."

"Ok... What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing." She said with a passive shrug.

Lucas sighed. He wasn't in the mood for any games tonight. "Don't do that Brooke. Don't pretend like it's nothing-"

"Why wouldn't it be about nothing?"

"Because you're not letting me touch you!" he exclaimed as they fell into silence again.

After a few moments, Brooke spoke up; "You were so rude to Owen tonight."

"I wasn't rude, I was—"

"Territorial?" Brooke questioned as Lucas remained silent and focused on the road ahead of him.

"You heard what Peyton said at the door." Lucas grumbled. He wasn't exactly a fan of someone insinuating that his fiancée was with someone else

"Who cares?! She was drunk!" Brooke exclaimed. "She doesn't know what the hell she's talking about and it's insulting and embarrassing that you would get mad about it because it implies that you don't trust me!"

"Of course I trust you!"

"Really? Cause you have a really funny way of showing it." Brooke said as she sunk back into her seat. "If there is anyone in this relationship who shouldn't be trusted, it's you."

"What the hell Brooke? How could you say that?"

"Oh I don't know Lucas, because I've been humiliated before by you?" she said as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world. "Maybe you'll feel some sort of need to rush out a save little drunk Peyton because that's what you do. You save people apart from the one person you're supposed to love more than them all." She said, letting her stupid and unnecessary insecurities get in the way.

"Now who's insulting me and embarrassing me by implying that I would ever do something like that? I don't know how else I can tell you that I do not have feelings for Peyton and I know I hurt you, but holding on to it isn't going to help."

"Excuse me for having trust issues Lucas—"

Lucas sighed as he gripped the steering wheel tightly; "I thought we'd moved past this Brooke." He stated quietly.

"So did I! Do you seriously think that I want to be having this conversation?"

"Then why are we?!"

"Because I'm being proactive in not getting my heart broken again!" she exclaimed. Brooke knew she was making a big issue out of nothing, but she was desperate to get the heat off her, so she turned it around on to Lucas.

"Is that why you've spent the last few weeks that Morello has been here flirting with him!?" Lucas fired back.

"What?!" Brooke exclaimed. She hadn't been flirting with Owen, why the hell would she want to flirt with him?

"I'm not blind Brooke, just like you aren't apparently." he grumbled.

"There is a difference between being flirty and being nice, Lucas, but you know what, this explains why you've been so jealous the past few weeks, it's the only time you've really paid attention to me." Brooke responded. She couldn't even look at him right now. First it was the Harvey thing now it was the Owen thing. Why was that the only time he felt in necessary to show her any affection?

"That is not true—" Lucas said, a little hurt that she would feel that way. He loved her more than anything, why couldn't she see that?

"You know, I'd prefer it if you were just honest Lucas." Brooke said as she finally looked at him, tears in her eyes.

"Honest?"

"Yes, honest about whether you regret ending things with Peyton—"

"Don't be ridiculous Brooke."

"Don't tell me not to be ridiculous, I will be as ridiculous as I want!" she replied childishly, silently realising that this fight was getting out of hand.

"Why are you so frustrating?" Lucas finally quietly asked as Brooke remained silent. "You never give me a chance. You always assume the worst of me."

"Don't turn this around on me."

"Isn't this why this conversation started in the first place?" he challenged as Brooke remained silent. Lucas sighed and pulled over on the side of the road so he could turn and face her properly.

"What are you doing? Why are you stopping?" Brooke questioned. She just wanted to go home.

"Because we need to stop this. We are not these people, we don't fly into jealous rages. We need to get better at this talking thing." Lucas said as Brooke looked down in her lap. "Brooke." He said to grab her attention as he took her hand. "You have to believe me when I tell you that my heart it with you. What I did to you at the gala—it was horrible and immature and stupid. I know what life is like without you and I never want to experience that again. I know the mistakes I made, and I have been trying ever since to fix them." He confessed as Brooke held back her tears. "I often find in life that people tend to sneak up on you. You fall in love with people when you're not expecting it or looking for it. I remember the first day that I ever saw you. It was when I first started out in Raleigh Med and I was working on a patient in the ER and you came striding in and I was completely distracted by you in that moment. You were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen—" he said with a reminiscing smile.

Brooke scoffed; "and then you tackled the hammer guy to the floor…"

Lucas chuckled; "Yeah… I knew that you were beautiful, and I told you one day, but—I could never have fathomed that it would actually turn out to be true. That you would be mine."

"Well I am." Brooke said as she finally looked up at him. "I have been since that Piper's wedding… But I am not going to be made a fool of again Lucas."

"And I made the mistake of letting you go once. I'm not going to do it again." He said as he brought his hand to hold the side of her neck and she held his forearm.

"We can't keep doing this Lucas. We can't get mad and then just have sex in an attempt to fix our problems, it doesn't work like that, it shouldn't work like that."

Lucas gulped; "Are you saying you don't want to have sex…?"

Brooke laughed; "No, I'm saying we need to talk more screw less."

"…less?"

"Just talk more, ok?"

Lucas smiled; "Deal."

A week later, Lucas stood in the kitchen making some breakfast for Sophie while Brooke got her dressed. Sophie had been thriving over the past few months and you wouldn't have been able to tell how unwell she was while she was in the NICU. She was now a happy and bright baby who had recently started out on the solid food game. When Lucas had finished mashing up some banana and yogurt for her, he moved to set it on her highchair tray. As he walked past the kitchen table towards her highchair, he stopped when he saw a bunch of papers from various hospitals across the country scattered on the kitchen table. He took a quick look and saw that they were fellowship applications. Why was Brooke applying for fellowships outside of Raleigh? He thought she wanted and was going to stay here?

He quickly moved away from the table when he heard Brooke come into the room with Sophie. He smiled as he lifted Sophie from her arms and set her in her highchair and sat down opposite her to feed her.

"Date night tonight?" Brooke asked as he nodded, and she kissed his cheek, before going to get her own breakfast. Lucas figured the fellowship conversation would be better saved for later.

Lucas thought about Brooke's choice to apply elsewhere for the rest of the morning. He wasn't sure if he should ask her about it, but then he remembered this whole 'talk more, screw less' thing, and figured he should ask. Just before lunch, he found her in a side room on one of the computers.

"Why are you applying for fellowships outside of Raleigh?" Lucas asked, a little harshly than he intended.

Brooke didn't pick up on his annoyed tone, and unfortunately decided to go for the sarcastic answer; "well, after residency, there's this little thing called fellowship and you kinda have to apply for them if you want to continue being a surgeon—" she said as she leant back in her chair.

Lucas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms; "Stop being a smart ass."

Brooke's face fell; "I'll stop being a smart ass if you tell me what your problem is. Why wouldn't I be applying for fellowships? I still want to have a job at the end of the year."

"You should have talked to me about it."

Brooke clenched her jaw; "I highly doubt that you spoke to anybody when you were choosing where you wanted to go Lucas, so why should I? You were allowed to apply to wherever you wanted to, why can't I?"

"Because I didn't have a family to think about!" he exclaimed.

"Lucas—"

"I thought you wanted to stay in Raleigh"

"I do want to stay in Raleigh, but it doesn't always work out that way—"

"Oh please. You're Brooke Davis. You can stay wherever you want to stay…" he grumbled. She really could write whatever ticket she wanted to.

Brooke stood from her chair and crossed her arms, matching his cut off stance. "Lucas, I have been looking at places to apply, I haven't applied anywhere, because you're right, that is a conversation we need to have, but we haven't been able to have that conversation, because I haven't seen you—"

"I don't really think you want to be starting a fight about you not being home for the past few weeks."

Brooke threw her hands up in the air; "I'm not trying to start a fight! And I have been home, you know I have." She defended. She had really been trying to get away from here at a reasonable hour since the events of the past few weeks, but sometimes this job demanded she stay on.

Lucas scoffed; "Barely."

"You're being impossible right now so until you calm down and learn how to speak to someone like an adult, we're not going to be having this conversation." Brooke said sternly as she lifted her work and made a quick exit.

That afternoon, Haley walked into the chief resident's office to find Brooke sitting on the sofa making her way through a slice of cake.

Haley scoffed; "You know you spend way more time in here than I do, right?" It was her office after all, but Brooke liked to use it as a napping spot. The sofa in here was somehow far more comfortable than the on-call room beds.

"Su casa es mi casa." Brooke replied.

"Well, I'm hiding from Nathan, he's mad at me for applying for fellowships without telling him, so if he asks, I'm not here." Haley said as she sat beside he and took a bit of her cake.

"There must be something in the water cause Lucas's mad at me too…" Brooke said with a sigh.

"Nothing new there…" Rachel grumbled as she walked into the room and sunk into the sofa beside Brooke and Haley as Brooke rolled her eyes. She was right though. The past little while all Lucas and Brooke had been with each other was mad. "All you two do is fight these days, sometimes I wonder why you think it's worth your time."

Brooke sighed as she considered what Rachel said. She knew Rachel was feeling particularly cynical about love these past few days, but maybe she had a point. Why did she feel the need to put herself through this? Why did he put himself through this if he clearly had such a big problem with it? Their fight in the car the other day was explosive and some incredibly hurtful things had been said.

Brooke let out a scoff of disbelief at herself. What was she thinking? She knew exactly why they put themselves through this.

"It's funny… sometimes I hate him so much I just want to sucker punch him through a wall but… I also love him so much that I feel like I can't breathe when I'm not with him. Any time it's suggested that we shouldn't be together my heart sinks. No matter how mad at him I am." She confessed.

They weathered the fights and the anger because of how much they loved each other. Nothing good in their lives meant anything without the other by their side.

Haley chuckled; "You guys are highly dysfunctional."

"Dysfunctional is my middle name." Brooke said with a smirk. Considering her family history, it was a highly appropriate middle name. "What's the deal with the heart transplant kid?" she asked, knowing that Rachel had been struggling with a young patient all day.

"He won't take the heart because it's the heart that made him fall in love with his first girlfriend." Rachel explained.

"How… romantic?" Brooke asked as more of a question, not sure how to take this.

"Idiotic more like. First loves always hurt. No point thinking you can delay that." Rachel said, voicing her opinion.

"I can vouch for that one…"

"Do you think if Aiden hadn't have died you'd still be together?" Haley asked quietly as Brooke gulped. She'd never allowed herself to think like that. What was the point?

"I don't know." She confessed. "Back then—I didn't think it was possible for me to feel that way about anyone else. But Lucas proved that wrong. I don't think I believe in the one. People come into your life and they help define you. Some are meant to go, and some are meant to stay… but either way you take what time you have with them and you don't waste a second of it."

Rachel and Haley nodded and gave her a sympathetic smile as she rested her hand on top of hers.

A short while later, Lucas was standing on top of the bridge, watching the world go by him. He watched as Peyton abruptly glided through the hallway, causing people to have to try and dodge her. He chuckled to himself. She really could be very melodramatic when she wanted to be.

His attention from Peyton was moved when Brooke walked through the doors and started interacting with the people around her. A bright smile rose to her face as she talked with doctors and nurses and patients. She really loved this place and she loved the people and Lucas couldn't help but let out a light scoff and a smile at her.

"What are you smirking at?" Nathan asked as he walked over.

"Brooke. Even when we have epic fights—just watching her still makes me smile."

Nathan nodded in agreement; "That's love for you." He said before walking on.

Lucas made his way to the lobby that evening to meet Brooke who had gone to pick Sophie up from day care. He had so much that he wanted to say to her right now, he just hoped that it came out right. He spotted her walking out the front door, pushing Sophie in the pram. He quickly darted after her and called her name.

"Brooke!"

Brooke turned around and gave him a tight lipped smile when she saw him, unsure where they stood right now.

"I'm undone by you." Lucas confessed as Brooke eyed him curiously.

"What?" she said with a little laugh.

"I—I know I'm looked at as the perfect boy who has it all together, but I have my demons. I have my imperfections and you—I stapled a lap pad to my thumb today because I was too busy thinking about you and what I would do if I lost you and… I'm sorry. I am truly sorry, and I will support you and whatever choice you want to make because I love you so much. You're—you're everything." he said sincerely.

"The choice I want to be able to make is to stay in Raleigh, Lucas. I have a life here; my family is here." She said as she looked down at Sophie who was sitting silently in her pram. "But sometimes, life doesn't work out the way you want it to. I just have to cover all my bases, and hopefully it won't come to finding a plan B. But I don't understand why you would think that I would just move my whole life without talking to you about it. We're a family Lucas. A partnership, a team. I would never make a decision like this on my own."

"I know, I know, I just—I panicked. I know we fight, I know to most people us being together seems insane but the thought of us not being together—it terrifies me. I don't ever want to lose you. I was watching you today—"

"Stalker." Brooke joked as he chuckled lightly.

"Maybe." He replied. "You just—you carry yourself with such light and love and elegance and grace and—it was like in that moment, I fell in love with you all over again."

Brooke walked forward and placed her hands on his cheeks; "You're not going to lose me. If you are undone by me, then I am certainly undone by you." She said with a laugh. "You're this prom king, basketball winning four consecutive high school and college titles, plastic surgeon god—I'm just dysfunctional Brooke Davis I take one look at you and my legs feel like jelly. But we can't do this. We can't just scream at each other before having a rational conversation first—then we can consider screaming. Deal?"

"Deal." Lucas agreed as Brooke smiled.

She turned back to Sophie's pram and began pushing it forward, but Lucas remained still. After moving a few metres, Brooke realised that he wasn't following them and turned back round.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked softly.

"… marry me."

Brooke raised an eyebrow; "You already asked me that."

"No, marry me now, tonight." Lucas made clear as Brooke's mouth fell.

"What?"

Lucas shook his head and smiled; "I don't want to go another minute without you being my wife."

Brooke laughed; "Are you crazy?"

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm just crazy in love."

"My mom would kill me…"

"We'll have a party later." Lucas said as he walked forward and lifted her hands. "Just—marry me. Don't make me beg." He said with a smile—which she slowly but surely returned.