A/N: Thank you all for the awesome reviews. And thanks to my beta: Leeese.


Chapter Twenty Nine

As Brooke parked her car in front of the apartment, she saw that Lucas had already arrived home. However, the front lights were off. So she assumed that he was in the kitchen or their bedroom. Either way, she was dreading the conversation. They hadn't really talked since she had told him about the deal between her and Victoria. Every time she had tried, he didn't want to hear it. So Brooke just let him go. They avoided each other as much as they could. Lucas spent all his time at the café while Brooke went to Millie's house. Brooke had to admit that she didn't want to go to spend Thanksgiving with Nathan and Ms. James since she didn't want to cause drama.

However, that was exactly why Millie had encouraged her to go home and talk with her husband. If she wanted to stay married to him, they had to talk this problem out. Brooke knew she was right and drove home. However, she stayed in the car for a few minutes while trying to come up with what to say. It had to be just the right words or the argument would start up again. Once she came up with the words, she prepared herself. After repeating it in her head several times, she felt that she was finally ready to face Lucas.

Unlocking the door, Brooke stepped into the foyer and put her purse down on the hallway table. "Luke, are you home?" she called. There was no answer. "Come on, Lucas. You can't give me the silent treatment forever. We really need to talk about this." Brooke wasn't able to move as she felt someone behind her. She opened her mouth to scream, but the person was quicker and put his hand over her mouth.

The lamp was then turned on and she recognized the person behind her as Officer Stevens. She then saw her mother sitting on the sofa, smiling away. "Hello darling. Did you miss me?" The officer took his hand off Brooke's mouth, but she didn't dare move since he had his gun pointed at her. Victoria got up from the sofa and looked at her daughter. "I know that this is an unexpected visit, but there has been a little change in plans where you are concerned. You see I really thought you would come to your senses by now and leave Lucas. He's not good enough for you or your baby. After all, look at Nathan. He left his wife because she cheated on him instead of forgiving her. But that's his choice."

Brooke knew exactly where her mother was going with this. For once, she wasn't going to let her win. "I know what you want and you're not going to get my baby," she protested. "So you might as well just leave now."

"You're forgetting that the police are on my side," Victoria replied. "And I'm not leaving until you decide to hold up on your end of the deal." She didn't let her daughter answer as she turned towards the bedroom. "Bring him on out, boys," she called.

Brooke gasped in horror as two men dragged Lucas out, who had tape over his mouth and his hands behind his back. She tried to run over to him, but Officer Stevens held her back. The two men that were forcing Lucas into the room made him kneel on the floor. Victoria pulled out a gun and pointed it at Lucas. "You have two choices, Brooke. You either come with me willingly or I force you. Either way, you are going to say good-bye to your precious husband."

Brooke glared hatefully at her mother. "Coming with you was never part of the deal. And I can't believe that you would be willing to do this to one of your own students," she exclaimed. "You've completely lost it!"

"I couldn't agree more," a familiar voice replied. Everyone turned to where the voice had come from. Both Brooke and Lucas were relieved to see Nathan and Haley standing in the doorway. They had been able to sneak in from the guestroom. Nathan stood protectively in front of Haley as he continued to speak. He stepped forward, but it was enough for him to keep his distance from the others. Haley did the same. They had a plan and they didn't want to get too close in case it all went downhill. "I always thought you were a great principal, one who cared about her students. But I guess it was really just another way of controlling your daughter. Were you going to follow her to college too?"

"Brooke wasn't planning on leaving until your little girlfriend decided to butt into my business," Victoria replied. Lucas's eyes went wide as he turned to his brother to his former teacher. Nathan was about to deny it when she didn't let him interrupt. "Come on, Nathan. I'm not that stupid. I've seen how depressed you've been since Haley moved and I know it wasn't because of your separation with Rachel."

"Deb has been on your case for years," Haley reminded her. "So Brooke would have gotten out eventually."

"I guess I've been too busy paying attention to your love life that I wasn't paying enough attention to my own," Victoria admitted. "Luckily, I took care of that problem. So Brooke and I are free to raise the baby without any interference from her."

"So what were you planning to do with us?" Nathan asked. "Did you just expect me to be okay with you shooting my brother?"

"Well, it was going to be an unsolved murder. By the time you would have figured it out, we would be long gone. And even if you found evidence that proved otherwise, I have this entire town wrapped around my finger. There is no way in hell that anybody will press charges against me."

"I think your plan just went down the tubes," Nathan said smugly as they heard the sound of sirens coming closer. Officer Stevens held tight onto Brooke as he peeked out of the front window. "As you know, my dad has been working with a couple of people to expose you for the cruel bitch you truly are. And that includes your connection to the police department. If you don't surrender now, it will only be worse for you and your buddies. It's over, Victoria. Just let Lucas and Brooke go."

There was silence as they waited to see what Victoria would say. Finally, Victoria put down her gun and Haley let out a huge sigh of relief. "Let them go." As soon as Brooke was loose, she ran to Lucas and helped him untie the ropes. "Besides, it won't matter anyway. You have no evidence against me except for this scene. And I can always spin it around and pin it on you. I can say that you blackmailed Brooke for the baby that you missed out on and was going to kill your brother for not cooperating. I came here to try to talk you out of it."

"I would never do such a thing," Nathan protested. "Who in their right mind would blackmail a pregnant teenager? Why would you even want their baby? So you could continue the abuse? Or did you have a different agenda?"

"I guess we'll never find out, will we?" Victoria snapped as police officers stormed into the room. Officer Stevens and the two men tried to make a break for it, but they didn't get very far.

Before Victoria could say a word, one of the police officers came over to her and forced her hands behind her back. "What the hell is the meaning of this?" she demanded as handcuffs were being placed on her wrists.

The officer didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Haley. "Did you manage to get everything?" he asked. Haley nodded as she showed him the camera she had been wearing. It had secretly recorded the whole conversation and Victoria's confession. Victoria gaped at her as the officer spoke again. "Victoria Davis, you're arrested for child abuse, blackmail, attempted kidnapping and the attempted murders of Whitey Durham, Deb Lee and Lucas Scott."

Victoria tried to protest and looked at her daughter for help as the officer continued to read her her rights. However, Brooke didn't say a word to defend her. None of the Scotts or Haley listened as Victoria threw out threats that she would return and get revenge. They were too busy having a happy reunion between the four. As soon as Victoria was taken away, Brooke started crying at the realization that she was finally free from her mother and could live the life she deserved with her husband and child.

It wasn't until the next day when Lucas and Brooke had discovered the rest of the story. Dan had no idea that Victoria had discovered that he had lied to her or that she had gone on a killing rampage. Once he did, he and Cooper quickly took action to find evidence so the police could finally arrest her. While they did that, Nathan and Haley wanted to see if they could trick her into admitting to some of her crimes.

"Victoria can try to lie her way out of this, but there is too much evidence against her," Cooper said. The Scott family, Haley and her sisters, Clay, Jake and Peyton, Mouth and Millie and Andy were gathered at the café to celebrate Victoria's defeat. Cooper told the story since Dan was with Deb at the hospital. "And her police friends have been dealt with as well. They've been suspended and arrested. It looks like they were conducting their own illegal activities and thought they could get away with it."

"Your family is going to be okay, right?" Brooke asked worriedly. She felt guilty for her mom trying to kill everyone just so she could take her and her baby away from Tree Hill.

Cooper nodded. "Yeah, they will be. Nathan and Haley found them just in time."

Nathan shifted uncomfortably in his chair as Lucas glanced over at his brother. "Cooper, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked. Cooper followed him to a corner where the others couldn't hear them. "Is it possible for me to get an annulment from Rachel? I really don't want to go through this process with her if I don't have to."

Cooper shook his head. "I'm afraid not. You don't have a legitimate reason to ask for an annulment. You two aren't related. You were both competent when you asked her to get married. Unlike Lucas and Brooke, you were well out of high school. And she didn't make a pregnancy up just so you could marry her. So I don't see any reason for an annulment. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to go through with the divorce."

Nathan was disappointed, but he understood that he couldn't change the rules. As he walked back to the group, Jimmy and Lydia burst through the door and Lydia ran over to Haley. Embracing her daughter in a tight hug, she expressed her worry and concern. "Thank goodness you're alright. When we saw the news, I was out of my mind with worry. I can't believe that you went into a situation like that. Do you realize you could have been hurt? Or worse?"

"Mom, I'm fine," Haley assured her. She didn't want to admit that she wasn't thinking about herself during the whole scene. All she was thinking about was Brooke and Lucas. "And Nathan and I didn't know what we would find when we went to the apartment, but we knew that we had to save Lucas and Brooke from Victoria. I'm sure you would have done the same thing if you were me. And if I wouldn't have gone in there, we might have not been able to arrest Victoria, at least not on all of the charges."

"Well, I don't know about your mom, but I'm proud of you," Jimmy told his daughter as he gave her a hug. "It took courage to do what you did. But I don't want to hear that you get into another situation like that again while you're down in Charleston, okay?"

Nathan wanted to say something - anything to convince Haley from changing her mind, but he wasn't sure how to express that in front of her parents without giving it away. "You're still planning to move to Charleston? But Victoria has been caught. This is what you wanted. You're free to come back to Tree Hill now."

"Nate's right," Jake added, who had been silently listening to the conversation until now. "You told Victoria that as long as she's principal, you wouldn't be teaching at the high school." Haley did remember saying that. "So what else is stopping you from coming back?"

Haley didn't know how to respond. Nathan felt like he couldn't hide the secret any longer. "Because she doesn't want to cause trouble for me while I'm working out my separation and divorce. And I understand why she wanted to keep it a secret. But I think you have a right to know that I'm in love with your daughter."

Jimmy stopped him right there and looked disapprovingly at Haley. "Really? What made you think we would approve of this relationship? How long has this been going on? You do know that he's still a married man, right? Do you not remember what we went through when your sister tried this stunt?" Taylor was embarrassed and felt guilty for making that mistake. "It was hell and I'm not going to let you put our family through that again."

Haley managed to find her voice. Her bottled up emotions seemed to be coming out all at once. "Why do you think I broke up with him? I knew that this was the way you would react. Do you think I wanted to fall in love with a married man? Or move away from this town I've grown to love because my boss was being a bitch to me? Or lose my baby right after I found out I was pregnant?" There were shocked gasps and sympathetic looks from her friends as Haley continued. "Yeah, that's right. I was pregnant with Nathan's child, but I had a miscarriage." There was a short pause as she calmed down. "None of this was ever planned. But does anything in life ever end up the way you thought it would be? Did you think that you would end up married to mom at such a young age or have seven children? Was that in your plan?"

Jimmy knew his daughter had a point. "No, it's certainly wasn't," he admitted. "But neither of us was married to another person at that time. And you may have broken up with him, but I don't think you stopped loving him. Otherwise, you wouldn't be considering moving back to Tree Hill." He turned to Nathan. "Does Rachel know about your affair?"

"As far as I know, she doesn't," Nathan admitted. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she already knows about it."

Jimmy turned back to Haley. "If Rachel sues Nathan, you're on your own," he warned her before he stormed out of the café, ignoring the calls from his wife and daughters.

Haley turned to her mother, who had been quiet through the whole conversation. So she had no idea what she was feeling. She was about to apologize when Lydia interrupted her. "You have nothing to apologize for, Haley Bob. You did what you thought was right. And I love you for that." She gathered her in her arms and gave her another hug. "Don't worry about your dad. Let me talk to him." Haley just nodded as Lydia walked out of the café.

Nathan felt guilty for starting the argument between Jimmy and Haley. "Haley, I'm sorry. I had no idea that your dad would react like that," he said. "I know you told me that your dad would be upset. I just didn't realize that he would be this pissed off."

Haley didn't answer for a moment. She was still feeling mixed emotions about their relationship and the argument she just had with her dad. "I know I said this before and I'm saying it for the last time. I need some time alone to think about what I want to do in regards to returning to Tree Hill and our relationship, okay? Just give me until the end of the holidays. Then you will know my answer." Nathan was quiet before he finally agreed.