A/N: Thanks to my beta: Leeese.

Chapter Nineteen

Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

Nathan gaped at his brother. He couldn't believe that Lucas was acting like nothing had happened. "You waited all this time to tell Brooke that you were married to Lindsey and you are just going to let her walk away?" he exclaimed angrily. "In the dark alone? When her stalker is out there?"

"Brooke has her car," Lucas pointed out. "And what the hell are you talking about? What stalker?"

Nathan let out a heavy sigh. "Do you remember Derek, the guy who crashed Brooke's Halloween party?" Lucas nodded. "Well, Haley told me that Derek sent Brooke a Christmas present. Why would he do that when they don't even know each other?"

Lucas gave him a look. "Why didn't you tell me this before? And if this is true, why didn't Brooke say anything?"

"Because I don't think Haley or Brooke believed that they would ever hear from him again after the Halloween party," Nathan replied. "And I just heard about it when Haley mentioned it the other day. Besides, it wasn't like he was sending Brooke gifts all the time. It was just Christmas, but Haley wasn't comfortable with this guy giving Brooke a present. If this guy is after Brooke, that might explain the attack on us. Maybe Dan has nothing to do with any of this after all."

Lucas sprung into action. He grabbed his wallet and car keys. He wasn't going to sit around while Brooke was out there alone. "If Brooke really does have a stalker, then we need to find her before this person does. Stay here with Lily. I'm going to go and apologize to her. Or try to convince her to come home or something so she isn't wandering around late at night."

Nathan nodded in agreement. "Ok, but please call me if you can't find her right away. I'll start calling the gang and see where she ended up."

Lucas didn't reply as he headed out the door. As he drove down the street, he was surprised to see that Brooke was nowhere in sight. It had been only ten minutes since she had left the house. Getting slightly worried, he dialed her cell-phone number. He waited anxiously as the phone continued to ring. But it eventually went to voicemail.

Lucas kept trying as he continued to drive around the neighborhood. But there was still no luck. He decided to try other familiar places like the café and the River Court. After he checked those places, he tried a few others before he was ready to call it a night. Wherever Brooke was, she didn't want to be found.

Lucas drove back home, where Nathan was waiting for him. "I've already called Haley and Millie and asked them if Brooke stopped by. Neither of them has seen her since the wedding. I also tried Mouth and it was the same answer. How did you do on your end?"

Nathan was disappointed when he saw the frustrated look on his brother's face. "I looked everywhere I could think of," Lucas told him sadly. "I can't seem to find her. And she doesn't want to answer her cell. I don't know what else to do except to wait and see if she will come home in the morning."

Nathan wished that there was another option. "Yeah, but if she isn't at Haley's house or Millie's, where else would she go?" he asked him.

Lucas shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think she would go to Rachel's house since she doesn't live there anymore. I tried Brooke's beach house, but I realized that it was probably now owned by Millie's family. So I decided not to trespass, but I did drive by it. It didn't look like anyone was there."

"What about Rachel's beach house?" Nathan asked him. "Did Rachel say if any of the guests were staying there after the wedding?"

Lucas thought for a moment. "No, but that's only because everyone lived nearby. The only person who I can think of who might be staying there is Cooper." He turned to his brother concerned. "You don't think that he would hurt Brooke just to get back at Mom and Dad, do you?"

"If he was going to take anyone, he would take Lily," Nathan said as they heard a small voice. They turned to see the very person that they were talking about. Nathan walked over to her and went down to her level. "Hey, what are you doing out of bed? Were we talking too much?" he asked. She shook her head.

Lucas knew what she was thinking. "You miss Mommy and Daddy, don't you?" Lily nodded sadly. Lucas tried to cheer her up. "Yeah, I know. We do too, but they will be back before you know it. And they will spoil you with presents. Now why don't you get back in bed and I'll bring you a cup of warm milk?" Lily didn't respond as she went back to her bedroom.

"Do you really think she will come home tomorrow morning?" Nathan asked skeptically.

"I hope so," Lucas replied. "Because I would hate for Brooke to end up in any danger."

Morning came fast and there was still no word from Brooke. Once the Scott twins were done with breakfast, they dropped Lily off at their Aunt Deb's before they met the gang at the River Court. It was obvious that she wasn't going to return on her own. They had to go and search for her. They split up into groups before they went to search the town again.

Lucas was with Nathan and Haley. He was trying to ignore Haley as she was giving him a lecture about keeping his marriage a secret from Brooke for so long. But it wasn't working. Luckily, he was able to interrupt by spotting something in front of them.

"Isn't that Brooke's car?" he asked Haley as they came up to a blue Volkswagen beetle that was parked on one side of the Gable Bridge.

"Yes, it is," Haley confirmed as Nathan pulled up behind the vehicle. "What's it doing here?" she asked.

"Maybe she had some car trouble," Nathan suggested as they climbed out of their own car and hurried over to Brooke's car. The three friends were relieved to see that the car hadn't been in an accident, yet became worried when there was no sign of Brooke.

Haley then found her cell-phone and purse was lying in the front passenger seat. "Maybe it's time to call the police."

Nathan didn't quite believe that. "When the police find out that the car was here, they are going to assume that she jumped off the bridge. And we all know she wouldn't do that. It's obvious that she had car trouble." He and Lucas had just checked under the hood and saw what was wrong with the car.

"Then why didn't she call us?" Lucas asked him. "And where is she now, Nate?" As much as they wished they did, nobody knew that answer. "That son of bitch probably has her. And we were led to believe that this psycho was after her so we would get off his trail. Well, I'm not going to let him push us around any longer." He didn't let his brother answer as he snatched the car keys from him and ran back to the car, ignoring Nathan's protests. Nathan and Haley couldn't do anything but watch as Lucas sped away, leaving them alone with Brooke's car.

Lucas didn't care if whether he had proof that Dan was involved or not. He was going to confront his uncle and demand that he tell him where he was hiding Brooke. His sick twisted games had gone too far and Lucas was tired of playing of them. It was time for him to confess the truth. And he didn't care how he got his answers, but he was going to find Brooke.

It seemed like forever before he arrived in Charlotte. It took a half hour of getting lost before he finally arrived at his destination. Parking the car in front of the house, he angrily climbed out of the car before he marched up to the front door.

Before he could even knock, the door was pulled open. "Deb warned me you were coming. Come on in," Dan told him. Lucas stormed into the foyer. "Can I get you anything?" he offered. "I'm sure you're hungry after the long drive."

"This is not a social call, Dan," Lucas reminded him. "Did Aunt Deb tell you why I'm so pissed off at you?"

Dan remained calm. "Yes, Brooke is missing and you believe that I'm responsible for her disappearance."

"You forced Rachel out of town," Lucas reminded him. "I wouldn't be surprised if you did the same thing to Brooke."

"I admit that I did encourage Ms. Gatina to leave town," Dan replied. Lucas rolled his eyes. "But I was only thinking of Julian's well being. He has a bright future ahead of him and I didn't want it to be ruined by Ms. Gatina."

Lucas tried not to laugh. "Since when do you care about Julian? As I recall, you didn't want to claim him as your son."

"Are you here to talk about Julian or Brooke?" Dan asked, avoiding the question. Lucas hated to admit it, but he was right. "I'm sorry your friend is missing, but I can assure you that I had nothing to do with her disappearance. I was here the whole night playing cards with my buddies since I wasn't invited to my son's wedding."

Lucas wasn't done with him. "Then you hired someone to kidnap Brooke."

"Lucas, I promised my children, not to mention my estranged wife that I would stay away from you and your friends," Dan told him. "And that includes Ms. Davis. Otherwise, I wouldn't be part of the family anymore. So I'm afraid that you're barking up the wrong tree. Now if you would excuse me, I have a busy day ahead."

Lucas looked at him hard. "Do you swear that you had absolutely nothing to do with Brooke's disappearance?"

"You have my word," Dan promised. Lucas was about to apologize when Dan didn't let him interrupt. "There's no need to apologize. I understand that you just want to find Brooke. And I hope you do. Please call me if you need any help in finding her." Lucas didn't say anything as he left the house and returned to his car.

Dan waited until he was sure that he drove away from the street before he returned to the kitchen, where his guest was waiting for him. "I do hope lying to my nephew was worth it. Because I don't want to lose my family over this."

His guest just gave him a wide smile. "Don't worry. We're both getting what we want. In fact, I should get going. Brooke should be waking up soon and I want to be there when she does. It was good doing business with you, Mr. Scott."

Dan wasn't happy, but he wanted to be a good host. So he saw his guest to the door. "Good-bye Ian."