"Hey Brooke! How are you feeling? I didn't mean to pry, but I sort of heard you last night. Adjacent rooms, remember?" He asked and I blushed at the memories he was indicating. "But seriously, are you okay?" He then enveloped me in a giant Nathan hug.
"Aw! My protector is here! My knight in a sterling armour!" I joked.
"Yeah, yeah!" He laughed as he lifted me up and hung me upside down.
"Natey! Let me go!" I yelled as I tried to get straight, but of course what use was my 5 foot form in front of an almost 7 foot guy?
"Nathan Royal Scott! Put me down now!" I yelled after my umpteenth futile attempt.
"Fine Brooke Penelope Davis!" He mocked with the middle names as he gently allowed my feet to grace the ground.
"But B, when do we get to talk?" He asked. His voice got more grave as he said that. His blue eyes became darker and the crease lines on his forehead joined to show is anxious look. It was a speciality of the Scotts. Their eyes changed colours. Their usual colour were a baby blue, but they would turn into a really dark blue when the were worried and a cold grey when they were mad. It was like directly glimpsing into their Soul. The change of colour was so sporadic that not many knew about it. In fact, other than their family, I was the only one who could tell. But they both did it without realising it.
"You really want to know where I went, don't you?" I voiced out what was playing in his head on loop.
"I'm worried about you Cookie Monster. Especially after how I found you. You almost died that day. That day I take you to the hospital and get Clay, and the next day you were gone. No trace anywhere. No help whatsoever. Luke got so mad one time when we were on our search trips for you, that he left the wheel and almost drove us off the road and into a river. We-"
"You went off searching for me?" I cut him off.
"Of course we did Brooke! I'm surprised you're even questioning that. We went crazy looking for you. Lucas was earlier going to file a missing person's report. But luckily, Clay answered before that and we knew you were safe. Didn't know where, but safe." He answered.
"But wasn't Lucas with Peyton?" I asked in a faint whisper. It took courage to ask that. It was my biggest fear. My biggest 'What If.' Lucas Scott cheated on me with Peyton Sawyer the minute he came to know that I lost our baby. That it was gone. My baby was d- de- Gone. My heart stopped the minute I lost my sanctuary. No matter how things went with my absentee family, with my terrible parents, Lucas was my refuge and I lost that the minute he cheated on me.
"Lucas regretted his decision the minute it was made. And he stopped it as soon as he could. Brooke, mistakes are made, and some of them seem irreparable, but you have to try again. He left Peyton the same night. He walked out on them. He was drunk high after getting the news of what he supposed you did and he didn't think. Besides, you got the news from a third source and your judgement was biased at that time." He explained. He paused for a moment as I processed everything.
"Peyton went off overseas with her dad. She left a week after you did and I assure you that Luke never saw her after that night." He continued.
"Okay, I get it. But how does that change things Nate? It is what it is and things have sunk too deep for any hope of ground. I lost all stability, the minute I found out that I was pregnant. Rather, the day I began dating my best friend." I confessed.
"It was just too much to take at that time bud. You were both kids. You had no idea how to react to something so magnanimous that was also real." He explained.
"Hmm." I replied.
"Do you remember what I told you on the day Clay left for college? You were crying on the porch that you lost the only family you had." He reminded me.
"Yeah. You said, ,don't worry about Clay ever going away. I'm here as your big brother to protect you.'" I replied as I recollected the incident from my mind palace.
"Exactly. And I have kept my promise B. I have tried my hardest to protect you from everything because I love you snd you are like my little sister." He said with a hint of emotion cracking his voice.
"You really have always been there for me. Thank you big brother." He smiled and hugged him.
"No problem baby sis. Anything for you." He replied, returning the warm embrace.