Chapter Thirty Eight

Forever and Almost Always

Brooke decided not to focus on her family's drama. Instead, she wanted to try and get Nathan and Haley back together. She had an idea to make Halloween costumes for couples. That way, they would be forced to attend the party together. She hoped she would be able to finish all the costumes in time for her Halloween party. She was already pressing for time. Karen offered her help and Brooke took her up on it. She just had to promise not to tell anybody what they were up to.

"What are you dressing up as this year?" Brooke asked Lily as she came over to join her mother and Brooke. "A witch? Or I can make you a princess costume." Lily shook her head. "Okay, what do you want me to design for you?"

"I want to be a cheerleader, just like you," Lily replied. Brooke gave her a proud smile. "Can you help me with my hair and paint a 'R' on my cheek just like you do for the basketball games?" Brooke nodded. Lily smiled in return. "Do you really think Nathan and Haley will get back together?"

Karen gave her daughter a look. "What did I tell you about spying? It's not nice to spy on other people."

Lily gave them an apologetic look. "Sorry. Do you really think Nathan and Haley will get back together?" she repeated.

"People who are meant to be together always find their way in the end," Brooke replied. "If Naley truly love each other, they will be able to work out their differences and get back together."

"Naley?" Karen asked, trying not to laugh.

"They're Nathan's and Haley's names combined," Brooke explained. "I thought it would be cute to have a couple nickname like some of those celebrity couples do. And I'm not holding out hope. I know they will get back together. Or at least talk to each other again without it being awkward."

Karen gave Brooke a gentle smile. "Brooke, I know you want to help, but I think you should let Nathan and Haley handle things themselves. I don't know if they're ready to reconcile yet." They heard a cry from the baby monitor. "Why don't I check on her?" she offered. She didn't let Brooke answer as she got up from her chair. "I'll be right back."

Brooke turned her attention back to her work. She continued working until Karen returned with Mackenzie in her arms. "Okay, I'm going to take a break. Let me have her." Karen pretended to be disappointed, but she gently handed the baby over to Brooke. "I hope she will be able to fit in her costume." She let out a heavy sigh. "Maybe I should just cancel my party and take her trick or treating. That way, I won't have to worry about any drama."

"What drama?" Lily asked.

"Lily, why don't you go and watch some television?" Karen suggested. Lily made a face, but she left the room. Karen turned to Brooke. "I know you're afraid of Lindsey crashing your party just like that Ian did last year, but I really don't believe she would come to the party uninvited."

"I never said anything about Lindsey," Brooke said. Karen gave her a knowing look. "If you knew what she did for her dare night, you would understand why both Lucas and I don't trust her." Karen was about to respond when she realized Brooke wasn't finished. "Yeah, I know it was my choice to accept her invitation, but her dares weren't fun."

There was a short pause as Brooke played with Mackenzie, doing her best to make her smile and giggle. It was too easy and her smile made Brooke smile in return. "You are the cutest baby ever. Yes you are." She turned back to Karen. "I can't thank you enough for finding out what Richard was up to. I don't know what I would have done if he had fought for custody of her."

"All Keith and I had a hunch," Karen said. "Deb was the one who hired the private investigator to tail your father or uncle whichever way you want to put it." There was a short pause. "Are you going to take a paternity test to find out whether he's your uncle or your father?"

Brooke shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think it matters considering neither of them were there for me."

"Neither was your mom, but you're giving her a second chance," Karen pointed out. "I don't see why you can't get to know Ted. He's not looking to be your father or a close uncle. He knows he doesn't deserve either title. He just wants to be your friend."

"I think he really wants to get friendly with my mother more than me," Brooke said as they heard the front door open. She panicked for a moment, thinking it was Haley. She didn't want her to see what she was doing.

To her relief, it was Lucas. He poked his head in the workroom and greeted them. He gave his girlfriend a kiss as he scooped Mackenzie and held her in his arms. He pretended to give her a stern look. "Are you distracting Brooke and Aunt Karen from getting their work done? I think you are. Why don't you come with Uncle Lucas and I'll teach you how to dunk a basketball?"

Brooke laughed. "Don't get your hopes up. I'm sure she will want to continue the tradition of being a cheerleader just like her big sister and Aunt Lily. Did you hear your sister wants to be a cheerleader for Halloween?"

"Yes, I did," Lucas replied. "And I'm not surprised. She really looks up to you and Haley." So there was a short pause. "So what Disney couple are we supposed to be?" Neither Brooke nor Karen answered him. Lucas gave them a look. "Come on. You're not even give me a hint?"

Brooke looked at him. "You really have no clue?" she asked surprised. She thought Lucas would have figured it out by now. "Naley are going as Prince Charming and Cinderella. And we're going as Phoebus and Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

"That's an interesting choice," Lucas said. "I thought you would choose Prince Charming and Cinderella for us."

"I did, but I thought it would be nice to be different than Naley," Brooke admitted. "Besides, you have Phoebus's hair."

Lucas knew that was true. "As long we don't need to drag a goat along with us, I'm cool with it." He was about to leave the room with Mackenzie when he backed up for a second. "Haley shouldn't have to worry about Tim this year. Nathan made him promise not to dress up as a clown again."

"Good because I wasn't going to invite him if he did," Brooke replied. "I don't want anything to ruin the party. After all, it's my last Halloween party before we go off on our separate ways and I want it to be memorable."

"It will be," Karen assured her. "Of course, you won't even have a party unless we get these costumes finished. Lucas we don't need any more distractions. Go and play with Mackenzie. We have work to do." Lucas nodded before he disappeared in the hallway with the baby.

After several long hours and days of working on the costumes, Brooke and Karen were able to finish them just in time for Halloween night. Since Brooke had been busy with the costumes, Haley took care of handing out the invitations. The guest list was the same as last year's and Keith offered to stand at the door and make sure there were no unexpected guests. Brooke and Haley accepted his offer.

Brooke was happy she was able to distract Haley with the party preparations. She knew if Haley had found out about the matching prince and princess costumes, she wouldn't have wanted to attend the Halloween party. She would have taken Lily trick or treating and she would have missed her chance to talk to Nathan.

Lucas, Nathan and Mouth came over early to help put up the decorations. To her relief, Nathan still didn't know what costume he was wearing and it made him nervous. He begged her to tell him what he was wearing. However, Brooke kept quiet. She didn't want to spoil her surprise. Yet, Haley was getting suspicious as well. Brooke tried to avoid them as much as possible.

It worked until they had to get ready to put on their costumes. Brooke showed Haley the long bright blue dress she had made for her. Haley tried not to smile as she looked at the costume. "It's beautiful. What's Nathan's costume?"

Brooke hesitated for a moment before answering. "Well, you can't have a princess without a prince charming," she said as she braced herself for the fireworks.

Haley gave her a look. "Cinderella and Prince Charming? That's your plan to get us back together?"

"How else are you two going to talk?" Brooke asked. "Besides I couldn't imagine Cinderella without her prince."

"Cinderella fell in love with her prince in one night," Haley reminded her. "Then she waited around until he came to find her. What does that tell you about their relationship? I'm not that girl who sits around and waits for my prince."

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "Really? What are you doing now? You're not waiting for Nathan to take you back?"

"No because he didn't break up with me," Haley corrected her. "It was a mutual decision." Brooke rolled her eyes. "As much as you want to be my fairy godmother, I don't think we're getting back together tonight."

Brooke pretended to look disappointed. "Does that mean you're not coming? You're just going to go to the café and work instead of having fun with your friends? As far as I know, Tim is planning to come as a zombie. So you won't have to worry about any clowns."

Haley gave her a smile. "I never said I wasn't going. I wouldn't miss out on wearing an original Brooke Davis Halloween costume." She looked at the dress again and she shook her head in amazement. "I can't believe you made this. This is an awesome dress. You really should consider fashion designer as a career because this is amazing. I'm going to try it on." She didn't wait for an answer. She hurried to the nearest bathroom to try on the costume.

As soon as she disappeared, Brooke tried her own costume on. She then put on the black wig and she looked at herself in the mirror. Her costume looked perfect on her. She fixed her wig before putting on top of her head. The costume was now complete and she couldn't wait to show it off to her friends. She left her bedroom to check on Haley.

Haley stepped out of the bathroom. Brooke gave her a smile. "You look gorgeous. Let me help you with your hair. Cinderella may have the dress. Now she needs to look the part." She ushered her best friend back into the bathroom and Brooke went to work.

After they were both ready, they returned to the living room. Lucas, Nathan and Mouth complimented them on their great costumes. "Let's go see what surprise Brooke has in store for you," Lucas told his brother. "I'm sure you're going to love it. If not, wear it anyway. Mom and Brooke worked really hard to make the costumes for us."

Nathan looked at them with a little bit of alarm on his face. "What kind of costume is it? It's not anything embarrassing, is it?" he asked, remembering Julian's costume last year. He didn't want to wear a dog costume.

"Just come and try it on," Lucas said before anybody else could reply. He gently pulled his brother out of the living room. Brooke gave him a grateful look. She didn't want Nathan to back out at the last minute especially since Haley already agreed to wear her costume.

Mouth grabbed the camera and took pictures of Brooke and Haley as they heard footsteps. Rachel entered the room wearing a red dress, black boots and a red cape. "What do you think? I'm a dark Red Riding Hood. And Julian is going to be the wolf."

Her friends looked at her surprised. "How did you convince him this time?" Mouth asked.

"I had to promise him that this was going to be our last Halloween where we have to put on costumes for the next two or three years," Rachel said. "That means no kids yet. It's fine with me because I can't handle them anyway. Speaking of kids, where is your baby sister?"

"Karen's watching her for me while we get things set up," Brooke told her. "I probably won't be too long with Mackenzie. She is just a baby and she might get scared with all of the kids running around with masks. We will probably just go to the neighbors around here and that will be enough for her."

"Deb and Whitey will probably want to see her too," Haley added. Brooke nodded in agreement. "Too bad my parents aren't in town. I'm sure they would love to meet Mackenzie. Although, they did say they would try and be back for the holidays. If they can't, they will definitely be there at graduation."

"You're already down for valedictorian, aren't you?" Rachel asked.

"No, but I'm sure I will be," Haley replied before she disappeared in the other room.

"Haley's wound a little too tight tonight, isn't she?" Rachel whispered to Brooke once Haley was out of the room. Brooke didn't get a chance to answer as Rachel shrugged. "Don't worry. Nothing is going to bother me tonight. I have the perfect revenge plan for Lucas's ex-wife. It's a trick she won't ever forget."

Brooke gave her a look. "Revenge? No, you're not going to play any tricks on her tonight."

"What? Why not?" Rachel exclaimed.

"Because I don't want to have any drama tonight," Brooke said. "I just want everyone to have fun."

"But playing tricks on her would be fun," Rachel defended. "Besides, you really don't think she would go tonight without ruining your party, right? We should beat her to the punch." Brooke shook her head. "Are you sure?"

"The only thing I want to do tonight is enjoy the party," Brooke replied. Rachel was disappointed her friend wasn't willing to join her. "If you want to play tricks on her, go ahead. But please leave me out of it."