Chapter Thirty-Four – A Glorious Mess
8 weeks later, Peyton had recovered from her near-death experience and had made some pretty big life decisions. She felt like she hadn't seen enough of the world and wanted to experience it because you just never know when life could escape from you. So she quit her job at Raleigh Med and nobody really knew how to take it, especially Lucas. They'd made amends and they were all friends and it seemed strange that she wouldn't be in the hospital anymore. They'd worked together for a long time after all.
In other news, it was the day of Haley and Nathan's wedding and everyone was excited. They knew Brooke would have planned an extravagant success. Nathan had arrived at Brooke and Lucas' house to get ready while Brooke got Haley ready at their house. Lucas was under strict instructions from Brooke to make sure Nathan kept to schedule. Brooke was on a mission to make this the most beautiful wedding in the history of Raleigh.
"Ok, so we need to leave here in 15 minutes otherwise Brooke said she's going to destroy you." Lucas warned Nathan as they, along with Clay, got ready for the big day.
Nathan grimaced; "Destroy me?"
"That's what she said to say and she's very organised today. She's got Rachel as her right-hand man and they're not messing around." Lucas informed them. Rachel and Brooke were a seriously deadly duo that was for sure.
Suddenly, the bedroom door swung open and Haley appeared with a smile on her face as Brooke and Rachel rushed in after her.
"Wow, I thought we weren't supposed to see each other today?" Nathan asked, not even hiding the smile on his face.
"You're not!" Brooke exclaimed. "She got in her car and drove away from me, I had to run after her, which is entirely unfair considering I am housing another human being inside of me. Haley, you are not messing up this day, no way in hell!" Brooke warned, but Haley couldn't care less.
"Mass Gen! I got the fellowship at Mass Gen!" Haley announced as Nathan's face beamed.
"What?!" Nathan exclaimed as Clay walked out of the bathroom.
Brooke glared at Lucas, looking for him to back her up. He awkwardly cleared his throat "Uh Brooke's right guys, you shouldn't see each other until later."
"Yeah you two cannot talk, you eloped at midnight after you got in a huge fight." Nathan reminded them as they both pouted.
"Whatever…" Brooke grumbled. When he put it like that it sounded pretty bad but in head it was awfully romantic.
"It's ok Brooke, we don't believe in that stuff" Haley insisted. She just wanted to tell Nathan about her fellowship offer in general medicine, it was a huge deal, Mass Gen was a huge deal.
"Haley" Rachel said as she turned Haley and held on to her shoulders. "We are all incredibly proud of you, but don't – don't tell Brooke that. She needs you to believe in this stuff, just for this day." She begged.
"I need you all to pretend!" Brooke exclaimed.
"And Brooke come on! Be excited! You also got Mass Gen, Johns Hopkins and Mayo." Haley reminded her. Despite wanting to stay in Raleigh, Brooke sent the applications off anyway—for both trauma and neuro and was pleasantly surprised by the response.
Brooke walked forward and guided Haley towards the door; "I know, it's very exciting, we're geniuses, and I promise we will celebrate that genius after we get you down that aisle. Rachel, come with me, Nathan, you're with Lucas and Clay, we will see you there. Let's go." Brooke said affirmatively as she and Rachel pushed Haley out the door.
Later that morning, Brooke had changed into her dress—her small baby bump protruding nicely. She didn't know why, but for 20 weeks she felt huge and she was feeling a little self-conscious. Naturally, Lucas told her how beautiful she looked every single day and that gave her a little boost,.
She walked round the venue setting the last few things up for the wedding while Lucas walked behind her, and Sophie ran around at their feet.
"Peyton quit. She actually quit." Lucas said.
Brooke furrowed her eyebrows; "That happened weeks ago."
"No, I'm saying she quit her job to travel the world and branch out and it's just made me wonder – what am I doing? Should I be doing something else? Should I be seeing more?" Lucas said, the whole thing clearly causing him turmoil. It was like Peyton's near-death experience had been his experience too and he was feeling the ripple affects. He wondered if he was wasting time performing surgery after surgery. He wondered if he should be doing more.
Brooke turned to look at him; "Lucas you don't have to branch out into the world to feel satisfied with life."
"I know, and it's not that I'm not satisfied I just – I don't want to live with any regrets, you know?"
Brooke gave him a sympathetic smile, "I know… but I don't know what the future holds. No one does."
Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist; "But you'll be there, right? Every step of the way?"
Brooke smiled; "Always." She assured him.
She kissed his cheek before breaking away from him and looking back to her place settings.
"So… what are you going to do about all these fellowship offers?" he questioned. He was immensely proud of her for getting them, but she had barely said a word.
She scoffed; "That is a good question…"
"You are a highly sought-after woman Dr. Davis. The medical world is your oyster." Lucas said with a smile as he put his hands in his pockets.
"It appears that way…" she said, returning his smile. "but we talked about this way back when I was applying, I want to be able to stay in Raleigh, this is where our home is."
"I know but… it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to head east."
Brooke's mouth dropped; "Are you serious? You gave me so much crap for even applying east!" she exclaimed as she swatted his chest.
"I freaked out! I said I was sorry and if I hadn't have freaked out we might not be married right now. Just engaged." He reminded her with one of his signature smirks.
"Oh, that's always reassuring to hear—my marriage is the result of a freak out."
"Not what I meant—"
"Would you seriously move to Boston? Or Baltimore?" she questioned, not quite believing that he was serious.
Lucas shrugged. "If that's where you really wanted to be then yeah. I would. I know this is our home but—our home can be anywhere that we are."
"I know this probably sounds crazy but… a part of me feels like we're not done with Raleigh yet. Like there is so much good we could do here, and this is where our family is supposed to be. Where baby no.2 is meant to be born" she said as she rested her hand on her stomach.
Lucas nodded; "If that's what you want to do then I fully support you."
"Alright… but I'm not saying we'll never branch out a little. But right now, let's stay."
Before their conversation could continue, Haley walked out into the court yard with a huge smile on her face.
"Oh my God Brooke it looks so pretty!"
"Oh I'm glad you like it, but you should be in the bridal suite, where I left you" Brooke reminded her.
Haley rolled her eyes; "Stop being a crazy wedding planner and be my crazy best friend instead."
"… ok fine, yay! I'm glad you like it!" she said as she and Haley giggled in excitement causing Lucas to chuckle. "I promise to walk you through every little thing after the ceremony."
"Thank you. This is amazing." Haley said sincerely.
"Anything for my best friend." Brooke replied with a wink. "Now, I will be up with you ASAP to help you finish getting ready!" Brooke said as she pushed Haley back over to the stairs of the estate the wedding was at.
"Momma! Daddy! Watch!" they heard Sophie shout as they turned around and watched her chase Maya. It brought a warm smile to their faces.
"Sophie adores Maya" Brooke said as Lucas chuckled.
"Yeah, she definitely never smiles at us like that…"
Brooke pouted; "Maybe the second one will like us better" she suggested as Lucas snorted.
Lucas looked around and spotted Peyton and Jake in the corner laughing about something.
"Funny how things work out huh?" he commented as Brooke followed his eyeline to the couple.
"What do you mean?"
"After everything that happened at the gala, Peyton and Jake found their way back to one another and you and I were always meant to be."
"Yeah. It's a little crazy" Brooke said quietly, not looking all that happy.
Lucas frowned; "Wow, I didn't mean to upset you—"
"No, no, you didn't." Brooke insisted as she held his hand. "I forgave you a long time ago for what happened but if I'm being entirely honest, when we got back together, I struggled to understand what all the heart break was for." She said with a shrug.
"Sometimes I think about that too and I know you may not want to hear this, but I think I was meant to have what I had with Peyton, even if it meant a lot of turmoil and pain… and what I am even more sure about now is that that road led me back to you and you and I? This is forever. We're going to have lots of little curly haired, blue eyed, genius children and we're going to grow old and grey together on a yacht that we're going to sail round the Mediterranean." He said as he pulled her into his chest and hugged her tightly.
Brooke sniggered; "You're a dork."
"A dork who is seriously in love with you"
Brooke lifted her head and looked up at him; "I love you too Scott."
Brooke was furious. The whole wedding had been a total disaster. The heavens had opened, and the rain began pouring – even after the forecast said it would be the perfect day! The whole place was ruined. Haley also slipped in the mud and ruined her dress. Haley and Nathan determined that maybe now wasn't the time to have Brooke's dream wedding and they all got back in their cars and headed to Brooke and Lucas' for a post-non-wedding party. They would get married in their own time apparently – maybe even a courthouse wedding too. It seemed to be the done thing among Raleigh surgeons.
"This is crazy!" Peyton said with a laugh as she and Lucas ran through the storm and sought shelter under a canopy while they waited for Jake and Brooke to get to them.
Lucas chuckled, "Just a little… seems appropriate though."
"What do you mean?"
"Love is a little crazy. It makes you do crazy things. It seems fitting that weddings are out of the ordinary" he explained.
Peyton smiled, "That's true…" they stood in silence for a few moments before Peyton spoke up again. "You know… I know I never really said it or showed it to you but… I am so happy that you have found something epic and amazing and passionate with Brooke. I see the way you look at her every day and I just know she is your forever… just like Jake is mine." Peyton told him.
"She is my forever and always" Lucas confirmed, he couldn't help the smile that rose to his face when he thought of her. "Thank you." He told her as he held her hand in his. "And I'm so happy you've found your happiness too Peyton. You deserve it." He was incredibly grateful that they could have a moment like this before Peyton left. Everything felt like it was exactly meant to be.
As Lucas and Nathan ordered some food for all the people that were now gathered in Brooke and Lucas' house, Brooke and Haley were upstairs getting themselves dried off. Brooke had tried to save the wedding somehow but she was fighting a losing battle to the rain.
"I'm sorry today didn't go as planned." Brooke said as Haley ringed out her dress.
"Don't be silly, we'll find our time." Haley assured her with a little laugh.
"I have no doubt that you will. So… Mass Gen?" Brooke asked. Selfishly, she didn't want Haley to leave. She would miss her friend more than anything, but as her friend, she also wanted her to go and pursue her dreams.
"Yeah… will you be joining me?" she asked hopefully, but already knowing her answer.
"I've decided to stay in Raleigh. I don't think I'm quite finished here yet."
Haley nodded; "I understand that… Kate offered me an attending job."
"Seriously?"
"Yep… she really wants us to stay… I think she wants us to stay for you. She knows how much you'd miss me and Nathan"
Brooke chucked, "No, she offered you that job for you because you are a Rockstar." Brooke insisted, though she had a funny feeling that Kate was also looking out for her a little too.
"Do you think I should take it?" Haley asked meekly.
"I think you should do whatever makes you happy."
"I would miss you a lot if we went to Boston…" Haley said with a frown.
Brooke held onto Haley's hand; "You may be leaving Raleigh , but you would never be leaving me. We been through this crazy surgeon life together and we're going to be there for each other every step of the way. Nothing is going to change that."
Haley smiled as she wiped away a stray tear; "I love you very much Brooke Davis."
"I love you right back Haley James" Brooke said as they hugged each other tightly.
A short while later, Brooke was struck with an idea. After a brief discussion with Clay, Rachel and Lucas, who all agreed with their idea and went to make it happen, Brooke rushed around the house and bumped straight into Andy, who was looking at her with a smile.
"Dr. Hargrove… what's up?" she asked. He looked like he had something important to say.
"I uh… I wanted to apologise actually. I came here and I didn't really give you the chance you deserved on neuro which wasn't fair."
"No, no, you've given me plenty of chances." Brooke insisted. At the start, yeah, he'd ghosted her a little, but he'd been letting her back in recently.
"Well hearing that you'd applied for trauma attending positions made me realise that I need you in the neuro department. I need you as my fellow. You can help me with my research and when I'm drowning with research you can take over my surgeries. There's no one else I would trust to do so. You're incredibly talented Brooke and the best I have seen in a long time."
Brooke looked at her with wide eyes. She was not expecting this. She was about to tell Piper she could start as a trauma attending tomorrow, but now she was thrown a curve ball.
"I—I don't know what to say." Brooke confessed.
"You could say yes?" Andy said with a hopeful smile. "Unless of course your trauma attending position is signed and sealed—"
"No. My heart has always been in neuro… I'm in" she said as Andy held out his hand and she shook it.
"Welcome to the team Dr. Davis."
"Hey" Brooke greeted Nathan a few minutes later as he stood out on the porch of the house.
"Hey… I'm sorry this didn't go how you planned" he apologised.
Brooke laughed at the fact that he was apologising to her. "It's ok, I'm sorry you didn't get the day I had planned… but I actually have a better idea if you're interested?"
"Oh yeah?" he queried.
"Yeah. Come with me" she said as she grabbed his arm and dragged him into Lucas and Brooke's drawing room. He paused when he saw everyone gathered and Lucas standing at the front, an aisle right up the middle of the room.
"I know it's not a fancy estate but uh – we just ordained Lucas online, it's a surprisingly quick process, and we have one beautiful bride upstairs who is so ready to marry you if you're ready" Brooke explained as Nathan looked at her in wonder.
"You are one of a kind Brooke Davis." Nathan said as Brooke smiled widely.
A short while later, Lucas married Haley and Nathan right there in their drawing room in front of all their friends and family. Despite all the mayhem of this Raleigh Med family, they also had the most beautiful and loving moments, that they would no doubt treasure for the rest of their lives.