A/N: I apologize for the very long delay. Like I said before, this chapter is in the present.

Chapter Twenty Six

You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side

After being processed, Lucas, Nathan and Julian were all interrogated. Keith and Karen sat silently besides their sons as the brothers explained what had happened in the factory. Since Julian was eighteen, he didn't need a parent present. Yet, he backed up his cousins' stories. Once the police heard that Daunte, their so called witness who had called about the murders, was possibly the true murderer, they went back to investigate some more. The Scott brothers then found out that Dan didn't send Daunte after Ian and Cooper. In fact, he had never heard of him. That worried the accused murderers. If he hadn't sent him to kill Ian, who had?

While the police were continuing with their investigation, the Scott cousins were dealing with the repercussions of staying out all night and not telling anybody what they were really planning to do, especially Julian. Rachel was flabbergasted when the police put her husband in handcuffs and had insisted that he was incapable of murder. Like everyone else, she was relieved when Julian was released, but was furious with him for the phone call that made her sick with worry.

His mother and stepfather weren't happy either when Deb had called them with the news. They had flown out to Tree Hill immediately with a lawyer. It wasn't long before they began to put the blame on the Scott family for dragging Julian into that mess. Julian defended his cousins by telling Sylvia and Paul that it was his choice to help them because his family needed him. And he wasn't going to take the risk that Ian and Cooper were going to go after his wife next.

Lucas and Nathan also got in trouble and were grounded for three weeks. To their annoyance, that also meant no basketball. Lucas wasn't worried about that. He was more concerned about Brooke since he couldn't get Ian's words out of his mind. Since Lucas was grounded, he asked her friends to keep an eye on her. Luckily, Brooke never showed signs that she was pregnant. If she was, she was hiding it well.

The police eventually were able to catch Daunte. After he agreed to a plea deal, he finally confessed that he was the one who had killed Ian by the orders of Cooper. He also admitted that Cooper faked his death so the Scott brothers would be blamed for it. With the confession, it was enough to clear Lucas, Nathan and Julian of all charges and an arrest warrant was issued for Cooper.

To celebrate, Keith and Karen were planning to throw a big party at the café. Even though Cooper was still out there, they didn't believe that he would return. It would be too big of a risk with the police after him. Dan and Daunte were in jail. And Ian was dead. There were no more threats and everyone felt like they could finally move on with their lives.

"Brooke, are you ready?" Victoria called as she knocked on the bedroom door. By now, Brooke had moved back in with the Scott family. They had made room for Victoria as well. "Your friends are going to be here any minute." There was no answer. Victoria tried again. "Brooke, did you hear me?" Victoria thought she heard an answer, but she wasn't sure. Turning the doorknob, she opened the door and was surprised when she saw her daughter lying on her bed, watching television. "Please tell me that you haven't changed your mind and you've decided to stay here. Your friends are expecting to see you at that party, especially since you finally remember them."

"I'll send my apologies, but I'm not in the mood for a party," Brooke replied, not looking away from the television.

Victoria looked at her hard. She couldn't believe how much her daughter had changed since her rescue. And it wasn't for the better. She was continuing to be more distant from her friends instead of closer. She was more interested in spending time with her new friends and spent hours shopping for new clothes instead of going to cheerleading practice and working at the café.

She was even trying to get in touch with her father, but he was too busy with Renée preparing for their baby's arrival. He hadn't announced that the baby was going to be a boy yet, but he was certainly hoping for it. According to Brooke, he was having painters decorate the nursery in blue. Victoria could only imagine his disappointment if the baby would end up being a girl.

Victoria snapped out of her daydream and turned to Brooke. "Well, I hope you have a fun night. I'm off to dinner with Sylvia. If you need me, I have my cell-phone." Brooke just nodded her head – her eyes stayed glued to the television. "Good-bye." Victoria waited to hear a response, but she was surprised when she didn't get anything. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"Okay. Have fun," Brooke told her. Victoria looked at her one last time before she left the room. Brooke was relieved when she finally left. She knew that she was confused that her daughter was once again turning down a chance to see her friends after she had finally remembered them, but it was better than facing her friends and admitting the truth.

Brooke wasn't alone for long when she heard a knock at the door. Getting off the bed, she went to see who her visitor was. Before she could even make up an excuse, Haley spoke up first. "We had a feeling that you wouldn't want to go to the party," she explained. "Once Victoria called and told us how concerned she was, I knew I had to find out what was going on with my best friend."

"There's nothing going on with me. I just don't want to go to the party," Brooke protested.

Haley didn't believe her for a minute. "Brooke, what the hell has been going on with you? You've been avoiding us ever since your rescue. I understand why at the beginning. You didn't remember us so we were strangers to you, but you're still doing it. Why?"

Brooke didn't answer for a few moments. The silence was killing Haley and waited patiently until Brooke was ready to speak. "Hales, do you remember the rumors going around about me and how I was pretending not to know you and the gang because I wanted to be that party girl again?"

Haley already didn't like where this conversation was going, but she answered the question. "Yeah, but I refused to believe it was true though. I know you really didn't want to become that girl again." She could see her friend was getting upset and ran over to her best friend. "Brooke, what's wrong?"

"I don't deserve to be your friend," Brooke said as she burst into tears. Haley tried to calm her down as she tried to understand why her friend was feeling this way. "It wasn't just rumors. I did pretend to not know you or Lucas, but it wasn't because I wanted to be that party girl. I was trying to protect you guys." Haley was still lost and Brooke continued her story. She had been keeping this secret for so long and she was glad to finally get it off of her chest. Brooke sat down on the bed as she spoke again. "After a few days, I remembered what happened to me when I was with Ian. He was determined to keep me away from Lucas at all costs. He was even willing to kill him if he had to."

"After I began to regain my memory about his threat, I thought the best possible way to keep Lucas and everyone else safe was to move away from Tree Hill. I got even more scared when Cooper came and blackmailed my mom. I couldn't take that risk that he was going to hurt Lucas or Nathan. That's why I agreed to go to New York. I didn't want Ian or Cooper to hurt me and my friends anymore. When I heard about their murders, I began to feel guilty that I didn't say anything and didn't know if I could face you guys without blurting out the truth."

Haley couldn't believe that her best friend had carried that weight on her shoulders all this time. She sat down on the bed next to Brooke. "Brooke, nobody could blame you for feeling terrified. I would have too if I was kidnapped and heard my stalker threatening to hurt my boyfriend or my friends. But why didn't you tell anybody sooner? Here, I was thinking that you didn't know who I was and it took all of my strength not to be hurt when you kept going off with Taylor."

"I know and I can't tell you how much it hurt me to do that to you or Rachel," Brooke replied. Haley just listened as Brooke continued on. "But I didn't know who to talk to. Nobody went through what I went through with Ian." There was a long pause as the images of her locked in Ian's bedroom came back to her. "And it was worse than it was the first time because I wasn't drunk. I knew exactly what he was doing to me the whole time and I couldn't do anything about it." Haley then knew that she had been bound to the bed while Ian had taken advantage of her. "I couldn't even scream because I was gagged. I've tried to tell myself that it's all over, but I still have nightmares about it."

The second guest then made himself known. Haley didn't believe that Brooke would be as open with him as she would be with her best friend. As painful as it was, he listened with a heavy heart until he felt that she needed him. Sure enough, she ran into his arms for a longing embrace. Lucas held her tight. "I'm so sorry that bastard put you through all that."

Being in his arms gave her some comfort and made her feel safe. "I was so afraid that I would get pregnant again like last time, but I have nothing to worry about. I'm not pregnant." Lucas let out a relieved sigh. Even though she hadn't shown signs, he was still afraid that she would become pregnant from what had happened. Hearing the words coming out of her mouth put his fears to rest. Lucas then pulled out something from his pocket and handed it to Brooke. "What's this?"

"That's my apology letter that I wanted to give you, but we got sidetracked," Lucas explained, referring to the night where he had gotten arrested. Brooke was about to open it when Lucas stopped her. "You don't have to read that now. I'd rather you go and get dressed so we can get to the party. You really don't want to stay here by yourself, do you?" he asked.

Brooke shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to be alone. "Give me a few minutes. I'll be right out."

Lucas waited until they were out of the room before he turned to Haley. "How did you know that this would work?"

"Because Brooke wasn't acting like herself and I knew that something was bothering her," Haley replied. "I just wasn't prepared for it as much I thought I was. It was a little too much for me."

Lucas nodded in agreement. "I want to be there for her, but it was really hard for me to hear. As much as I hate to admit it, maybe she needs some professional help. We should talk to Aunt Deb and see if she knows anybody."

Deb used her connections to get Brooke the best therapist there was and everyone hoped for the best. As the weeks went by, Brooke began to act like her old self. She began to get back into cheerleading and spent time with her friends. She went back to working at the café and baby-sat Lily from time to time when Haley couldn't do it.

It seemed like their lives were getting back on track, but Lucas didn't feel the same way. He felt some guilt for what had almost happened that night that Ian had been murdered by Daunte and wanted to clear his conscience. Otherwise, the guilt would never go away. The only problem was he wasn't sure how everyone else would take the news.