A/N: Thanks to my beta: Leeese.

Chapter Seventeen

Have Yourself a Merry Christmas

"I can't thank you enough for doing this for me," Brooke told Keith and Karen when they came in to check up on her. "You know you saved my life, right?"

"Don't thank us yet, Brooke," Karen warned her before she gestured her to sit next to her on the bed. Brooke was ready to hear what she had to say. "We know your parents are a lot more hands off, but we're not going to make it easy on you. And I'm sure that you're not going to like us for it."

"But you are going to have to follow the rules just like the boys do," her husband added. "There will be no staying out all night. No boys sleeping over." Keith didn't have a chance to continue as Brooke embraced him in a tight hug. She then did the same to Karen.

"It's just like having real parents," Brooke said happily. She then noticed Lily and beckoned her to come in the room and join them. She ran over to her and embraced her in a tight hug before she sat down in her lap.

"Did you like our surprise?" Lily asked her. "Lucas didn't think that I could keep it a secret."

Brooke gave her a wide smile. "I loved it. And don't listen to your brother. You did a great job in keeping the secret. I never suspected a thing." Keith and Karen then left the bedroom so Brooke could continue to get settled in. After encouragement from her parents, Lily followed her parents out of the room. Brook then turned to Haley, who now was in the doorway. "Did you know about this too?" she asked.

Haley shook her head. "I knew Lucas was trying to figure out a way for you to stay in Tree Hill, but I had no idea he would give his room up for you. I shouldn't have been surprised though. That Scott is crazy about you and was very upset when he found out that you were possibly moving." There was a short pause before she spoke again. "And so was I. I still can't believe that you didn't tell me. I'm your best friend. I know we shouldn't share all of our secrets with each other, but this was one I didn't think you would keep from me."

Brooke frowned. "What secrets have you been hiding from me?" Haley knew she had revealed too much, but she kept her mouth shut as Brooke followed her out of the room. "Did you and Nathan break up or something?"

"No, Nathan and I are still together," Haley assured her as they went through the house to the living room. Brooke was still waiting for an answer. Haley knew that it was time to tell her about Peyton. "Ok, do you remember how I said that I ran into Peyton at the music store and told her about your Halloween party?" she asked. Brooke nodded. "That was a lie. The truth is that I have been tutoring her and we got to talking about music."

"You've been tutoring my enemy all this time and you never told me?" Brooke asked. She didn't let Haley answer. "No wonder she is all over Jake. She is using my best friend to get information about me to use against me for later."

Haley stopped her right there. "Actually, she is trying to understand you. I know it sounds crazy, but she wants to be friends with you. She believes that it's time to put the rivalry to an end and be friends. And I agree with her. You two have been fighting it out as long as I can remember. I would like to see you guys get along for more than just one night. You might be surprised to find that you two have a lot in common. She is willing to try if you are."

Brooke let out a heavy sigh. "Ok, I'll try too, but I'm not making any promises." The Scott family then came into the room as Haley started saying her good-byes. Nathan followed her out the door since he was taking her home. Brooke watched them from the window and let out a happy sigh. "They make such a cute couple, don't they?" she asked.

"Speaking of couples, I'm afraid that your mother is still insisting that you don't date our son," Karen told her.

"That's okay. It's probably for the best right now," Brooke replied. Lucas nodded in agreement. They didn't want to start dating until after Dan was taken care of. "Anything else I need to know about living here?"

Keith nodded. "Yes, we've already talked to the boys about this. We've decided that I'm not going to stay the entire six weeks with Karen in Italy. You, the boys and Lily will be unsupervised for only two weeks. But the same rules still apply to you as it does to them. No house parties while we're gone." Brooke was amused to hear that one. "No fighting at school. Keep up with your schoolwork. And make sure that you don't forget about Lily."

"You can count on me," Brooke promised them. She then let out a yawn. "I think I'm going to go and get ready for bed. Good night, all. And thank you again for everything." She returned to her new bedroom. It was still unbelievable to her that she was now going to be living at the Scott house. It was certainly going to be an adjustment, but she was willing to make it work. There was no way she was going to move back with her mom.

However, Brooke couldn't help but continue her usual routine of doing whatever she wanted. Karen had hired her to work at the café. On the first day, she had ended her shift super early to go to a party with Bevin and Theresa. Getting caught in trying to sneak back in her bedroom, the two guardians had grounded her and forced her to do some chores.

Brooke was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor with a sponge when she heard a familiar voice. "Hey, Cinderella," Lucas said. Brooke looked up at him as he laughed. He was leaning against the kitchen door frame as he watched her. He had an amused look on his face. "You're hanging in there?"

Brooke sighed. "I take it you've heard."

Lucas tried not to smile. "Well, my parents can crack the whip, especially my mom."

"I can't believe they actually grounded me. I thought they liked me."

"They do like you. Hey, they care enough about you to ground you," he told her softly. Brooke scoffed at him. "So what number you on? Three?"

"Four! Mop the kitchen floor," Brooke replied as she went back to her work.

She heard Lucas laugh quietly. "And you're using a sponge?"

Brooke looked at him slowly. She didn't understand why he was questioning her choice of cleaning equipment. "Is that wrong?"

Lucas laughed again as Brooke straightened up. He brought the mop in from the other room. "How about you take the evens and I'll take the odds? And I bet we'll bust this out in like a half-hour?"

Brooke smiled gratefully. "Thanks Luke."

"Anything for you," Lucas replied. Brooke gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything. Something in his eyes had intrigued her, but she didn't know quite what it was. However, there wasn't much time to think about it as Lucas showed her the right way to mop the floor before they finished up the chores.

Brooke groaned. "It's too bad grounded means that I stay in the house. I really need to finish my Christmas shopping. Do you think you can talk to your parents for me? Because I'm not going to let you do my shopping for me."

"You don't have to get me anything," Lucas told her. "Having you here for Christmas is enough for me. In fact, I think it's enough for my whole family except Lily. You know how little kids are with getting presents." Brooke didn't answer. Lucas realized his mistake. "I guess your Christmases were different."

Brooke nodded. "Yeah, my parents always took trips around the holidays. And they never took me with them. I don't remember where I stayed or who I stayed with until I met Haley. Then I would spend the holidays with her and her family. But it was always so crowded at her house and I felt like an outsider. So I started a tradition of having a Christmas Eve party every year. That way, I was with my friends and I could sleep late the next day."

Lucas frowned. "So you would spend Christmas Day alone?"

"Well, I would join Haley and her parents for dinner," Brooke replied. "Most of the day, I was by myself though."

"That is all going to change this year," Lucas told her. "I'm going to make sure that you have the best Christmas yet. If you still want to do your Christmas party, I will see if I can convince my parents to host it."

"You would really do that for me?" Brooke asked. Lucas nodded. "I would love that."

A few days later, Brooke was happily greeting her guests as they came through the front door. Keith and Karen had agreed to a Christmas party. However, it was restricted to their closest friends since their house was smaller than Brooke's house. To make sure Lily wasn't left out; she was allowed to invite some of her new friends as well.

Karen then switched with her so Brooke could go mingle with her friends. Most of their guests already had arrived and were chatting with each other including Rachel and Julian. Rachel didn't want to miss Brooke's Christmas party. So she and Julian had flown back to Tree Hill for the holidays. They had been staying with Dan and Deb, who made sure that the two slept in separate bedrooms. Neither liked the arrangement, but they were going to tolerate it for the visit. However, they did love the city and weren't planning on moving back to Tree Hill anytime soon.

Another couple who had already arrived was Haley's sister Quinn and her boyfriend Clay Evans. Haley's parents had decided to visit their oldest daughter Vivian and her family this year instead of trying to get the whole family together. It had been harder the last few years so they decided to visit their children. Haley didn't mind since she was hoping to spend Christmas with the Scott family. And when she found out that Quinn was still planning to come to Tree Hill for Christmas, she invited her to the party and Quinn eagerly accepted the invitation.

Brooke ran into Rachel first since she had been waiting for her friend to be finished playing hostess for awhile. "Well, I have to say that it may not be the grand party I'm used to, but I'm having a blast anyway." Brooke was happy to hear that. "It may be because of the Christmas season." There was a short pause before she spoke again as she flashed a piece of jewelry in front of Brooke. "Or is it because Julian and I are engaged?" she squealed.

Brooke gasped at the diamond ring on her friend's finger. "Wow, Julian has great taste." She then turned to Rachel. "Wait, did you say you two are getting married? Are you sure that is a good idea?"

"That's why we're going to do it quietly," Rachel said. "Even though Dan promised to back off, we don't want to take any chances."

"That's not what I meant. Are you sure you want to get married now? Don't you want to wait until after high school?"

Rachel gave her a look. "Why? It's not like I'm going to college after I graduate high school. I'm not college girl material. And if you're worried about me getting pregnant again, Julian and I are both going to make sure that we're wearing protection. We don't want to go through that again until we're ready."

"You aren't ready for marriage," Brooke protested. She knew that she was acting like a parent, but she didn't want Rachel to make another mistake. "I know you love Julian, but there is a lot more to marriage than just being in love and supporting each other through the tough times. It is having jobs to pay rent and bills. How are you planning to support yourself?"

"Would you relax? If Lucas and his ex-wife can do it, Julian and I certainly can," Rachel replied.

Brooke couldn't believe that story was brought up again. "Lucas doesn't have an ex-wife," she insisted. "So why don't you tell your fiancé to stop telling lies about my friend?" she demanded before she walked off and checked on her other guests.

Quinn then caught up with her. A big smile was on her face. "I can't thank you enough for inviting me and Clay to your party. We're having so much fun."

Brooke smiled in return. "Well, I always have considered you as a friend." She then surveyed the scene. Lucas and Nathan were talking to some of their basketball teammates. To her amusement, Alex was flirting with Chase Adams while Peyton was talking to Mouth and Millie. "Have you seen Haley?" she asked.

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, we wanted to call our parents and wish them a 'Merry Christmas'. Nathan and Lucas told us we could use their room for more privacy."

Brooke thanked her before she went through the crowd to the bedrooms. She knocked on the door before she poked her head in. Seeing that Haley was still on the phone, she just waved to her as she came into the room.

"I love you too, Mom," Haley said into the phone. They exchanged good-byes before she hung up. She then let out a heavy sigh as she turned to her best friend. "I now know how you feel when your parents took off for the holidays. Don't get me wrong. I love being here with you and the Scott family. I just wish my parents could have joined us instead of going to Vivian's house."

"At least your parents love hearing from you," Brooke replied. "My dad is too busy with his new fiancée and their unborn baby to talk to me. And my mother is enjoying Christmas in New York this year."

Haley raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really? I would have thought she would have flown off to Paris again. She seems to love that city." Brooke couldn't argue with that. "I'm sure she will take you there one day."

Brooke tried not to laugh. "Yeah, I'm sure she would in an alternate universe."

There was another knock at the door and Karen poked her head in the room. "What are you girls doing in here?" You're missing all the fun." Haley and Brooke knew that they should get back to the party. As they started to leave the room, Karen pulled out a small little box. "Brooke, this just came for you. The messenger told me to tell you that it's from Derek."

Both girls were surprised to hear that since they haven't heard from him since he had crashed her Halloween party. "I wonder how he knew you were here," Haley said suspiciously as Brooke opened her gift.

She gasped in surprise as she saw the beautiful earrings. She tried them on and couldn't help but notice that the earrings matched her Christmas outfit perfectly. Brooke then noticed that Haley wasn't happy. "Well, everyone knew that I was moving away from Tree Hill. So he probably heard rumors that I moved in with the Scott family and decided to try the house. What's the big deal?"

"Why would he send you a gift when he doesn't even know you?" Haley pointed out.

Brooke was about to respond when Karen stepped in before the conversation got ugly. "Girls, let's not spoil this wonderful day. We should get back to our guests before they start a search party," she instructed and Brooke followed her out. Haley had a bad feeling about this Derek character, but she knew better than to try and argue with Brooke about it. She put her cell-phone away before she left the bedroom.