A/n: Okay so updating this chapter took me longer than it was supposed to because there was some issue with syncing on Google docs and when it finally synced, I lost around ⅔ of the story… that would be around 4000 words. I tried to recover it but couldn't find a way of doing to so had to write it all over again. :(

If any of you have ever faced this problem and know how to recover the lost work on android, please PM me with the fix… I'd be really grateful!

Alright.. Now that I'm done venting, here is the chapter…

It had been three days since the news broke. The whole world knew about Abby being Lucas' daughter. Gossip sections, entertainment news channels, magazines, they were everywhere. Some channels were sweet enough and compared his and Abby's pics pointing out similarities, saying they were happy for the family being reunited. However, many of them were nasty, digging their past, spreading rumours about Abby being a product of a one night stand while he cheated on his then girlfriend, Peyton. Things were specifically bad for Lucas as in the past few years he had been very promiscuous, seen in social scenes with a different girl every time. An entertainment news went as far as to mock if they should expect more love children of Lucas popping up.

Lucas was shaken by that was being said about him… Old pictures with different girls popping up. Last when media had bashed him was after he and Peyton broke up. 'An Unkindness of Ravens' had made their relationship very public,so when they broke up, media hounded him for weeks asking for the reason and making their own assumptions when they didn't get one from him. They said his fans felt cheated as he had written in his novel "I was now, and would always be, in love with Peyton Sawyer." and not even a year later, they had broken up. It was then that Lucas had decided he would never write non fictional novels ever again. Sure he still wrote about people he knew, about some of his own experiences, but always changed the names and the locations and always published his novel under the fiction genre to make sure never to get into such a fiasco ever again. Little did he know then that this would happen again, and this time on a much larger scale, with a much larger audience.

The day the news came out, Brooke was a little rattled by all the unwanted media attention and all the rubbish that was being said. She was stressed and needed her best friend. Unfortunately, Clair, Neal's assistant informed her that he had urgently left for some village in Somalia, Africa for his NGO work and as there was no cellphone servic there, there was no way reach him. Once Brooke knew that she didn't have Neal to lean on, she had calmed herself down and decided to take everything lightly to everyone's surprise. When she agreed to go public with the news she knew very well what was coming. With Lucas' long list for girlfriends and his big fat novel, which was basically a love letter to Peyton, she knew the media will have a gala time raising the TRPs. All she was concerned about was Abby. Brooke had taken it to the social media and asked everyone to leave her daughter alone. Abby was a little kid and she didn't deserve to be dragged to mud for nothing. To her relief her fans had retweeted her and supported her and the media did leave Abby alone. Although the cameras followed Abby whenever she would leave for the house, but Brooke knew this was just for a few days and then they'll find something more juicier to talk about and leave them alone. Brooke had dealt with these situations a lots of time and it never bothered her anymore and cameras following them was nothing new to her, so she was alright. She felt bad for Lucas though. Lucas hadn't been taking the situation as lightly as she was, but who could blame him. They talked rubbish about him and it did bother her but not enough to get to her. The fact was Lucas had been a bit of a womanizer and the world didn't know that they ever even dated, so of course people were making their own assumptions. If it was a few years ago, Brooke would have lashed out on the media and defended herself and Lucas, but she had dealt so much of media drama in these years that she didn't even bother to correct them anymore. Lucas was a good father, Abby was happier than brooke had ever seen her, that's all that mattered. Abby was not a product of a one night stand. The people who mattered to her knew what the reality was, that's all that mattered. They was in love with him when they created Abby, at least she was madly in love.

-x-

Lucas sat in Lindsey's office with his head buried in his hands. Past three days had been the tough. He had thought once the news was out she would be able to hangout with his daughter publicly, take her to the zoo or maybe just to the central park or to get her an ice cream, but with media hounding him he didn't want to take any chances and scar her for life with the embarrassing questions he was being asked. He wanted to throw a fist at each of those so call journalists who took great pleasure dissecting his personal life, but Garry as well as Brooke's publicist, Kevin had strictly told him to refrain commenting and even acknowledging any of their questions. He knew they were right, he knew right now he could not afford any more scandals, but he still wanted to beat the shit out of those people.

"Luke, why are you making such a big deal about it? People talk. Big deal. You have never cared about it ever, why now?" asked Lindsey.

"Lindz I haven't been able to spend much time with my daughter in these past three days. To spend some time with her, I have to go to Brooke's house and stay locked up in her apartment. Before this drama, although it was a secret but I was at least able to hangout with her in my hotel, in places where people won't notice me. Now I am the country's juiciest gossip. My face is plastered everywhere as the cheap, womanizing manwhore who had a one night stand and left a poor little teenager pregnant to fend for herself and her baby." he gritted his teeth.

"I can't take Abby out in the fear of someone commenting something I wouldn't want her to know." he sighed "she is so intelligent, she picks on up things, I know she isn't oblivious to what is happening but we are trying to protect her and honestly I am scared." Lindsey looked at him in confusion.

"I am scared that she might hate me too."

Lindsey was shocked by his confession. She knew the scandal disturbed, him to his extent, she had no idea.

"Lucas, you are being crazy! Why would a little girl hate you?"

"because I kinda hate myself." he sighed sadly. "I hate what I have become. I know in these past few years I have been a big asshole. I have hurt many girls, broken their heart and those things they are saying about me is true. But, with Brooke, it was not casual, it was not a one night stand."

"you loved her." Lindsey whispered putting the puzzle together.

"Gosh! You still love her! Don't you?" Lindsey said with widened eyes and Lucas' head snapped at her.

"Yes I loved her. LOVED. Past tense." he emphasized. Lindsey stared him down but didn't argue. This wasn't the time to interrogate him but she was determined to talk to him about this again once things calmed down a little bit.

"You know all the characters in your book were so well developed and they all had middle names and last names, but Brooke was the only one that was the least developed and just had a first name. I always wondered why." she said out of the blue.

"huh?" Lucas expecting her to argue about his feelings for Brooke. Lindsey had been the second Haley in his life. She had always made sure to knock some sense into him and always confronted him when he was in denial about anything. Even when he was with Peyton, Lindsey was the first one to point out that he had no feelings for her and he was just fighting a losing battle just for the sake of fighting. Although he was thankful to her for not pushing on to that thought, but he didn't expect she would have notice this minor detail. She had never talked about it while editing. He pulled in a deep breath, thinking about about how to answer it.

"umm… I don't know. I just didn't want her to be linked i guess." he shrugged.

"linked?"

"uh.. Yeah. I mean.. I always knew she would be famous and all. And if I revealed her identity she would have had to deal with what came with that and it wouldn't have been good for her career. Peyton had the media following her for weeks after our break up even though she was a not a famous celebrity. I don't think Brooke would have wanted to be linked with me" he scoffed "she went as far as to keep my child a secret to sever all connections with me." still feeling bitter that she kept his daughter away from him.

Lindsey sighed and squeezed his hand.

"See that? You are a good man Lucas. You are not some cheap manwhore...umm.. Okay yeah you have been kind of a manwhore lately" she joked "but you care about people. You cared about Brooke and protected her identity so she wouldn't have to deal with all the drama. So you see, you shouldn't hate yourself. You were just having a phase in life, where you couldn't deal with serious relationships or maybe you didn't have the person you wanted a serious relationship with. But that's okay, that doesn't make you a bad guy and I am sure your little girl will never hate you." she smiled that the man who sat in front of her. Right at, this moment he looked like the insure, nervous boy she had met six years ago.

"thanks Lindz. I wish I was as confident about it as you are, but hearing it from you does make me feel a little better. What would I ever do without you?" he sighed. Lindsey had been a constant in his life for these past few years. He had slowly drifted apart from Haley, he knew it was his fault, but all those times when he needed a Haley in his life, Lindsey was there and he loved her. She was his best friend and guide. She always kept him grounded when he got cocky and made him feel worthy when he doubted himself.

"let's hope you never have to find that out." she chuckled. "But you should know I am really upset that I had to find out about your cute little daughter through the media." she fiegned anger.

"I so sorry, Lindsey. I wanted to tell you myself. But everything happened so suddenly I took me time to adjust to the fact that I was suddenly a father. Then someone took a picture of me entering Brooke's apartment and next day it was news and our agents decided its time to break the news."

"hmm… it's okay, I understand and you can do two things to make up for it."

"anything you want"

"You'll have to introduce me to Abby. Well I met Brooke during the charity gala, she is a lovely person and you are my Rockstar you know that. So can't wait to meet the awesome kid these two awesome people have created." she giggled making Lucas laugh.

"oh Abby is just another level of awesomeness. I can't wait for you to meet her." he beamed proudly.

"and the second thing I want you to do for me would be… maybe…. WRITE! Start writing your next novel?" she smirked and he rolled his eyes at her.

-x-

Brooke waited outside the school to pick up Abby. For the past three days Brooke personally drove Abby to school and pick her up too. Although there was no media outside the school, but when it camr to Abby, Brooke never took chances. Brooke saw her little brown haired girl running towards her joyfully..

"Mommy!" she squealed.

"Hi baby!" Brooke chuckled picking her up in her arms and kissing her cheeks.

"How was school?" she asked walking towards the car still carrying Abby on her hips.

"awesome! We had quiz in maths and we read a new poem in English and we made sock puppets in art and craft."

"wow! That sounds interesting. So your spring break starts tomorrow. Are you excited?"

"Yes!" Abby squeeked depicting her excitement. "will Auntie Haley and Jamie come to New York? we be going to uncle Nate's game and to Jamie's home fo? And will we be going to their house for Easter?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes, yes and yes!" Brooke laughed.

"yay! And this year daddy will be there too. It's going to be so much fun." Abby clapped her hands in excitement.

"Yeah, it will be fun" she smiled at her daughter through her rear view mirror and took the right turn for her apartment.

Since Naley and family shifted to New Jersey last year, they had spent every holiday, every festival together. Abby and Brooke went to games Nathan played and Abby loved it. It was slowly becoming a tradition. Lucas will be there too this year. Sure it was awkward but they'd have to get over it for their child. Every time they have been together in the past few weeks it either ended up in arguments or awkward silences. For Abby's sake they acted friendly in front of her, but they were far from friends. It felt awkward to spend time with each other. Three days back before the news was out, they had spent the whole day together with Abby, although it felt really good to spend time as a family with Abby, however, being in the same room with each other was still awkward. These past three days Brooke had skillfully avoided any encounters with Lucas and she was hoping to do it as long as possible.

"Okay little lady! We are home. I have a meeting so I'm going back to office. You go straight up, okay? Mille is there till your daddy gets here, so be good for her. And don't you dare sneak out. Understand?"

"Yes mommy, I love you mommy" said Abby climbing out of the car, giving Brooke a kiss and running inside the building.

Brooke turned her car and left for her office only after insuring Abby was inside the house.

-x-

Lucas walked into Brooke's building and Rob the doorman greeted him. He had been so regular to Brooke's apartment that all the guards and doormen and boys on the front desk knew him. Now he would just walk in and no one asked him who he wanted to visit or call up the penthouse to let them he was here.

"hey Mille, what's up?" he smiled as Mille opened the door and let him enter.

"Hi Lucas, Abby just got home. I was going to quickly make something for her to eat before I leave for office. Do you need something?" she said as she walked into the kitchen and Lucas followed her.

"umm.. No, thanks. Where's Brooke? I mean… why are you cooking again?"

"oh I'm cooking because Princess Abby doesn't want anything that is there in the fridge" he laughed.

"and Brooke, she dropped Abby and… Uh.. She had a meeting so she left." said Mille avoiding his eyes.

"another meeting.. right" Lucas thought as he scoffed.

"Mille you can go if you like, I'll make her something to eat." he offered.

"oh that's alright I've already made Mac n cheese. It's in the oven. Would you just take it out then the timer goes off"

"sure. And thanks Millie" he smiled. He liked Mille. It always made him feel better to know that Brooke had someone like Mille to help her with Abby when he wasn't around.

"Hey Mille… can you please ask Brooke to call me when she is free. I have been calling her but her phone has been going on voicemail."

"umm.. Yeah sure" she smile before leaving.

Lucas knew Brooke was avoiding him, but he didn't understand why? The last time they had spent the day together was three days ago and it was one of the best days in a long time. Sure, they had argued as usual but then they were fine when Abby was there. It frustrated him that he was getting affected Brooke's absence. Fine if she didn't want to see him why should he care.

"Daddy!" Abby ran and hugged him breaking his train toh thoughts.

"hey princess!" he smiled looking at his little girl. Every time he looked at, her, his life felt perfect. He still couldn't believe this beautiful little angel was his daughter.

His and Brooke's daughter.

"can we go out today, please daddy" Abby gave him puppy dog eyes which she definitely learned from her mother.

"honey, you know we can't for a few days." he frowned, he hated how they were stuck in this house.

"can we go to your hotel? Please please please…. II llove it there."

"we'll have to ask your mom first. If agrees then I have no problem with it"

"yay!" Abby pumped her fist in the air happily.

"now come lets have some mac and cheese" he chuckled picking her up and tickling her making Abby squeak.

-x-

Brooke sat in her conference room with her creative team around her. For the past hour, they were discussing about the cover for the next issue of her magazine.

"Guys no!... There is absolutely no way she is getting on the cover of my magazine unless she gains 10 pounds minimum. She looks unhealthy" Brooke frowned looking at the picture of a stick-thin model.

"Brooke, Yara is the best in the industry right now. Every magazine wants her on their covers. She has been trending on every social media platform." the head of the creative team debated with her.

"Do you know what is the difference between us and the other magazines, Leonard?" she asked him and looked around at everyone sitting in the room "anyone?" and no one answered.

"the difference is they follow trends and we SET trends." she said staring them down.

"if I wanted to follow trends, I wouldn't need a creative team, would I now?" she said throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"uh… Brooke we were just brainstorming" said Hannah, another member of the team, clearly not wanting to frustrate Brooke any further.

"Brainstorm better! Anorexia is a disease NOT a fashion statement." she scrunched her face once again looking at that unhealthy thin model's photo.

Leonard sighed defeatedly looking at the remaining portfolios. They were all a waste. Brooke would never approve to any of them.

"Give me a day, we'll come up with something that you'll like." assured Leonard straightening his shoulders.

"okay done. You've got a day to bedazzle me." Brooke joked trying to ease out the tension that had built up.

"Yes boss!" Leonard smiled, saluting her.

"umm.. Boss" Millie knocked on the door.

"Hey you are back!" smiled Brooke as she picked up her phone and files and walked towards the door.

"The meeting is adjourned guys! And Leonard, hope you come up with something new and awesome to make be believe that promoting you was the best decision of my life. " she winked and giggled a little when she saw Leonard slumping back in his chair.

-x-

"Did you just get back?" Brooke asked Millie as they walked towards her office.

"umm.. Yes."

"Oh was Lucas late?"

"oh no! He was on time… It's just.." Millie bit her lips nervously..

"So how did my daughter take advantage of your sweetness today?" Brooke kinked her brow at smirked at her.

"She didn't like today menu and wanted mac and cheese." she shrugged adjusting her glassed on her nose.

"she has you and Neal completely wrapped around her little finger." Brooke chuckled.

"But she gives those cute puppy dog eyes and I just can't say no to her when she has that look on. She could ask me to jump off the bridge and I would. I just can't resist her charm." Millicent laughed softly.

"Well she totally gets that from her mother" Brooke kind her brow cutely and smiled a dazzling dimpled smile at her.

"Oh I totally agree on that" Millicent rolled her eyes playfully making brooke giggle.

Brooke took a seat in her office chair and turned on her laptop.

"uh… Brooke"

"hmm?" said Brooke looking up at Millie.

"umm… Lucas asked me to ask you to call him when you are free…. Said he hadls been trying your phone, but it's going on voicemail every time."

"oh" Brooke frowned picking up her phone from the table.

"I switched it off. It has been buzzing continuously for the past 3 days. It's so irritating! I can't get anything done with it ringing every other second with calls from stupid journalists." she rolled her eyes.

"Just call him.. He said it was important and anyways you cant avoid him forever, can you?" Millie stared at her.

"I am not avoiding him Millie." Brooke crossed her arms defensively but the looked away when

"Yes you are" Millie stared her down. Yup! That's exactly what Brooke was doing…

"I…. I'm just…. I mean… it's… just too awkward" Brooke said with a sigh slumping her shoulders.

"tell me about it" Millicent mumbled and chuckled nervously.

"Gosh Mille! I am so sorry." Brooke looked up and bit her bottom lip.

"I just didn't realize how awkward it would have been for you to be stuck in between all this drama. I've been such a selfish bitch and have been taking you for granted, haven't I?" Brooke said apologetically.

"oh come on, Brooke! There is nothing to be sorry" Millie smiled

"You have been there for my through all my dramas more than I can ever count. And I'm not you stuck here or anything. I am here because I want to be and because you and Abby are My family and family always sticks through thick and thin, right?" Millie smiled repeating the words that Brooke had once said to her.

They were family and they would do anything and everything for each other. Brooke had helped Millie through her tough times. Brooke had saved Millie from her alcoholic, abusive father, made Millie a part of her personal and professional life, given her a life she had never even dreamt of having and Brooke had done all of this when she was herself struggling with her life. Brooke and Abby were the only two people Millicent considered as family and she would do anything for them. Brooke walked up to her and hugged her.

"I know I don't say this enough, but I can't tell you how blessed I feel to have you in our lives. Abby and I love you so much. I don't know what would I do without you." said Brooke genuinely feeling blessed to have Millicent in their lives. For the past six years, Millicent had been there with her through all her highs and lows, personally and professionally. And how she lived Abby just like her own.

"okay I love you too, but you've got to leave me before I start crying" Millicent chuckled trying to control her emotions and Brooke laughed releasing her from her hug.

"Now I've to go to the warehouse for some work,but you please call up Lucas"

"Yes I will" Brooke bit her bottom lip and gave her a small smile and slumped back into her chair as Millicent walked out of her office closing the door behind her.

-x-

Brooke turned her phone on and cringed as it started buzzing with voicemail and text message notifications. There were 23 voicemails and 47 text messages. Brooke sucked her lips in contemplating on what to do first. She huffed and finally dialed Lucas' number.

"hello"he answered in a frustrated voice.

"umm.. Hi Lucas" she said biting her lip nervously. Why the hell am I nervous? She asked herself.

"Brooke! Where have you been? I have been trying your phone all day and it went straight to voicemail everytime. I left you a few voicemails too, you didn't reply that either. How can you be so irresponsible? What If Abby was danger? What if she needed you? How was anyone supposed to reach you then?" he yelled at her from the other side of the phone .

" shut the fuck up, Lucas! You don't need to lecture me on how to do parenting, alright? I have been doing this for the past six years, alone." she hit back.

"and whose fault is that? No one asked you to do it alone." Lucas retaliated.

"I don't know what's up your ass today but trust me I neither have the stamina nor do I have a mood to argue with you. So if you don't mind I to prefer to hear about whatever that important thing was that you wanted to talk to me about." Brooke pressed the bridge of her nose in frustration. This is the very reason why she was avoiding him. They were fine till Abby was around, but just leave them alone for five minutes and every conversation would end up in an argument.

"Yeah! neither am I dying to your hear your voice" he scoffed and immediately clenched his eyes shut regretting at how rudely that came out.

"what do you want Lucas? Come to the point." Brooke answered after a few seconds of silence, trying to sound unfazed by his comment.

"Abby has been bored staying at home. She wants to go out so —"

"Are you crazy Lucas? You can't take her out. You know all the media circus going around. You can't expose Abby to that? How can you—"

"Just let me finish woman!" he snapped at Brooke and she flinched at his tone.

"She wanted to go out and I said NO!... I might not be the ideal father according to your standards but I not some brainless moron."

"I—" Brooke felt guilty and wanted to apologise for panicking and jumping on to a conclusion but Lucas interrupted her.

"I am not finished Brooke.." he said through gritted teeth and Brooke rolled her eyes. Her guilt was replaced by frustration once again.

"I understand what's right and what's wrong for my daughter. I would never expose her to the shit that's going on right now. But then she wanted to go to my hotel and hangout there. She is a kid, you can't keep her in house arrest. I want to spend some quality time with her. I can't take her anywhere outdoors, the least I can do is take her is take her to the hotel. She enjoys spending time there. I didn't want to disregard you as you are Abby's mother and I didn't want to promise her without discussing you with you, but that doesn't mean you can stop me."

"Okay" said Brooke calmly shocking him. Lucas had expected to her to fight with him on this and he was ready to fight back. Her accepting it so easily rendered him speechless.

"Okay Lucas, you take her to your place, spend some time with her and I'll pick her up on my way back home in the evening." Brooke said calmly.

"umm… Okay… Well, she can spend the night there" he suggested.

"No Lucas, you can spend all teh time with her you want, but she gets back home at night." she said sternly.

"Brooke, why can't she stay with me. Her vacations have started and anyways he have to come up wit an arrangement soon, so why not start today."

"Lucas, Abby is not good with night stays. You can have her for the whole day everyday if you want, but I need her back home at night." she pleaded.

"Brooke I am not a nanny or a day care center. I am her father and I have the right to spend time with her." he said through gritted teeth.

"Lucas please don't go anywhere. I'm coming home in 20 minutes, we'll talk about it." she said nervously and disconnected the call before he could answer.

She picked up her belongings and hurried out of her office.

-x-

Lucas was fuming with anger as Brooke disconnected on him. It was frustrating him that Brooke thought he wasn't capable of taking care of his daughter. He was her father he had the right to take his daughter wherever he wanted. He hated that Brooke didn't trust him with Abby.

Brooke entered her penthouse to find Lucas striding back and forth in her living room.

"umm.. Where's Abby?" she asked, looking around.

"she is taking a nap in her room" he replied in an irritating tone.

Brooke sighed and walked towards him. " Lucas, please try to understand"

"No Brooke you need to understand she is my daughter too and I want to spend some time alone with her. I don't get it what the fuck is the problem?"

"I am not stopping you from spending time with her." she huffed getting frustrated by every minute. "Abby is not good with night overs. Sometimes she wakes up at night and then she just needs me to be there. Lucas you have known Abby for just over two weeks. You hardly know anything about her."

"and whose fault is that?" he snapped at her "if you hadn't kept my daughter for six fucking years I would have known everything about her. I kept it a secret when you wanted me to.. Now the whole world know…. Damn I'm being ridiculed on national TV for the past three days for abandoning my daughter, when it wasn't even my fault, and it's okay, because at least I'd be able to be in my daughter's life. I want to spend time with her in my own comfort zone not in you house where it feels like I'm on visiting hours that too assisted!" he hissed at her.

"Assisted? Really? I always try to give you your space with Abby. I have trymied my best to not be here when you are here." and hearing that Lucas laughed a humorless laugh.

"Yeah, but you make sure either Millicent is there or some other of your staff members are spying around in pretence of finding some file."

"You are talking shit Lucas! Firstly, Milli is my family is has always been here and she will always be here. Deal with it! And secondly, my staff and I have better things to do with our time than spy on you!" she spat in utter disbelief that he would say something like that. She never doubted that Lucas was a good father and she had been going extra lengths to make sure that she was staying away while he was with Abby.

"All I want is Abby to get comfortable around me and my life and I want us to come up with an arrangement for sharing Abby as soon as possible. If that is too much work for you then I guess we'll have to let the court come up with an arrangement for our joint custody."

"Mommy… Daddy" said a soft little voice and both the adults turned towards it and saw Abby standing on the base of the stairs rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"Hey baby" Brooke said, quickly pasting a big smile on her face. She picked up Abby in her arms and kissed her cheeks.

"You slept well princess?" Lucas asked smiling at his little girl.

"mmhmm" Abby nodded clinging to Brooke's neck.

"were you scolding Mommy?" Abby asked frowning at Lucas.

"huh? Why do you ask that?" Lucas knitted his brows.

"because you were talking loudly and mommy looks sad" clinging closer to Brooke. Abby loved her Brooke so much and hated when she was said. And at that moment he didn't like Lucas very much because he made her mother sad.

Lucas didn't know what to say. While arguing with Brooke he almost forgot that there was a child sleeping in her room and he was ashamed that Abby had seen him like that, shouting at her mother.

"No honey" it was Brooke who answered "your daddy and I were just debating about something" she smiled pulling back from Abby to look at her face. "and I'm not sad, I just so tired." she sighed sitting down on the stairs with Abby on her lap.

"We had a long meeting in the office. I told Leonard that I wanted a pink background but Leonard wanted was adamant on a brown background." said Brooke scrunching her face.

"Pink is always the best. Brown is yuckie" Abby said mimicking her mother's expressions.

"I know right?" Brooke rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Leonard is dumb" Abby giggled and Brooke giggled along with her.

"baby, so you want to stay with you dad tonight?"

"Yes Mommy! Can I please?" said Abby giving her those sad puppy dog eyes.

"that doesn't work on me you'd lady! I invented that look" said brook kinking her eyebrows. "and you always get scared during night overs. Don't you?" Brooke knitted her brows and tucked a strand of hair behind Abby's ear.

"but I am a big girl now. I won't be scared promise. Can I please go…. Please, please, pretty please?" pleaded Abby.

"alright! come then let's pack an overnight bag for you" Brooke said and walked to Abby's room without even a glace at Lucas.

Lucas slumped back on the couch and buried his face in his hands. He had royally messed up once again. He had once again used the court as a weapon and Brooke must have felt like he blackmailed her. He knew very well, Brooke might have agreed to let him have Abby for the night, but she is going to keep a grudge towards him for how he made her agree for the rest of her life. All he wanted to do was spend some time with his daughter and it ended up in such a terrible argument. Every time they seemed a little okay, something would happen and they ended up just where they started.

He sighed and whispered to himself "Maybe we'll never be okay again."

. - xx-