A/N: Hi! Thanks for not abandoning the story even ifit took annoyingly long for me to update the last chapter. To make up for it, here's the next one. It's a little different from others so far, because I loved Libby's idea of having some Brooke/Brandon time. I had tons of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you'll enjoy it too!
Oh, and a special thank you to Libby, LukePeyTLA, O'MiaLove, OTHGirl24 and Anberlin for your reviews that got me back on track with this story. I'm going to a plantation near Charleston tomorrow, so I won't be able to update before Friday. Hopefully I'll have another chapter for you by early weekend, though.
"Uncle Lucas is the coolest!" Brandon recalled his day to his mom. He was a little hyper and it was quite a challenge for Brooke to get him to his PJs while the boy was jumping up and down and telling stories from his day. "We went to the park and he played with me in the sandbox just like Aunt P always does. And he had Foo Fighters in the car and we talked about aunt P.."
Brandon hopped onto his bed and Brooke sat down by him to tuck him in. She had a huge smile on her face. It was enchanting to watch her perfect little boy being so happy and excited. She had been a mother for four years now, but it still felt unreal that such a happy, lively and beautiful boy could be born of someone like her. She had had such a miserable childhood - at least when it came to parental love. Even loving Julian still felt quite new and miraculous to her.
Then it hit her that Brandon had said he had talked with Lucas about Peyton. That did not sound good. As a matter of fact, it sounded really worrying. "Wait, you talked about Aunt P with Lucas?"
"That's what I just said, mama." Brandon replied a little frustrated.
"What did you talk about?"
"That Aunt P likes home and Aunt P used to date daddy, but now daddy will always be with you. But Aunt P don't have anyone like that, 'cause Aunt P's special. But it's okay 'cause we're here. And then uncle Lucas promised to help me protect her, when I gotta go home with you and daddy and Ellen." Brandon explained innocently.
Brooke sighed, but before she got to commenting anything, Julian came in with a phone in his hand.
"Brooke, it's you BFF saying she needs to talk to you or you'll disown her." Julian explained rather confused and handed the phone to his wife. "Ellen's asleep so I can take over here."
"Hey buddy, I gotta take that phone call, but daddy will be here with you, okay? I'm glad you had a good day with Uncle Lucas." Brooke kissed Brandon and left the room with the phone.
"Good job . I'm glad to hear you've learned from past mistakes and picked up the phone if there was something to tell me." the smirk on Brooke's face was audible in her voice all the way to Peyton. "What's up, P?"
"Oh well, I guess we can just jump straight into the real topic." Peyton laughed. She loved that Brooke was so blunt and to the point. It was so Brooke and Peyton wouldn't have her any other way. "We're decided to have a week's trial relationship with Neil."
"Oh, hot Neil! My favorite topic.." Brooke squealed "What's a trial relationship, though?"
"Well you know how I said that we're maybe still a little complicated..? This is our way to uncomplicate everything. We agreed on one week and three dates of trying a real girlfriend-boyfriend relationship, so we can see where we stand when it comes to our feelings and when the week is over we'll talk about us and either continue the relationship as something serious and non-trial or we can back out and without special awkwardness revert back to friends never mentioning it again." Peyton explained.
"Hmm, that sounds interesting. How do you feel about it now?" Brooke sat down on their living room couch and leaned back on it.
"I don't know, I feel surprisingly good about it. I'd love to fall in love with Neil. I'm just not sure if it works that way. I mean Julian is the last guy I fell in love with and even that was almost ten years ago. What if I'm just not capable of love anymore? Are my expectations of having it all like you and Haley do just unrealistic? Should I just settle for whatever I can get?" Peyton had started out really calm and composed, but soon she found herself rambling about all the underlying anxieties.
"Peyton, I don't believe for a second that you wouldn't be capable of love anymore. You may have channeled your love to non-romantic and given it to friendships and the kids. But anyone of us, who have gotten to be in your life can say that being loved by Peyton Sawyer is one of the greatest things one can experience. When you channel some of that love to the right romance, it will be amazing."
"I hope you're right." Peyton whispered to the phone. Brooke could hear her words had made Peyton to cry a little.
"I know I am." Brooke smiled to the phone. "But I think this trial relationship can be a great thing for you. It was hard for me to fall in love with Julian after all the pain Lucas had put me through. But I just needed some time and it turned out greater than I could imagine. Maybe Neil is your Julian. I think it's great you're giving each other a fair try."
"I can't really see it right now, but I so hope you're right." Peyton smiled back. "But, Brooke, I need something from you when it comes to this."
"Anything."
"I need you to keep everyone grounded about me dating Neil. To give us a real trial, I'm gonna have Neil with me at least at the Saturday barbeque at Nathan and Haley's. But it's tough to balance high enough profile for real try and low enough profile to not mess up the possible reverting back to friends a week from now." Brooke got what she meant, but considering she was the biggest Peil fan out there, it felt quite absurd that she was appointed to slow the expectations down among the friends.
"You're my best friend, Brooke, and you know me better than anyone. So I need you to have my back on this one." Peyton pleaded answering to Brooke's silent wondering.
"Of course P. I support you in this. So, you do what you need to and I got your back."
The next morning Brooke was in a hurricane mode. Luckily Julian had the morning off, so she could leave Brandon with him. But after having hurried all regular morning routines Brooke and Ellen drove to Lucas and Lindsey's. She had some serious business to conduct with Lucas.
Lucas's car was parked outside and since the door to their bedroom wasn't locked Brooke just marched in with Ellen in her arms.
"Oh, you have a lot of nerve, Lucas Eugene Scott!" she let out as soon as she stepped inside and saw him sitting by his desk and writing.
Lucas looked at her intimidated. Even with a cute baby in her arms, she could be extremely scary. "Hi Brooke. What is it?"
"You talked about Peyton with Brandon! It's like we're back in flippin' high school again. She is not yours to protect anymore!" Brooke raised her voice. She surely would have shouted, but Ellen did not need to hear her mother like that, so she used just enough force to scare Lucas, but keep her daughter calm. "And if you let my son on with your little talk with him, I swear to god.."
"Brooke, I'm sorry. He was tired and about to fall asleep, but he was worried about his godmother and we talked so he could calm down enough to fall asleep. I had no special agenda." Lucas raised his hands to the air in hopes of calming her down by surrendering.
"Okay, but I don't want my son to fall under the Leyton spell, so you better be careful with him" Brooke said sternly, but a little nicer than before. "And Neil and Peyton don't need ghosts of Leyton hanging over their relationship, either. So if you want to live, I suggest you stay away from them just in case. Because if you mess with them, you'll answer to me!"
"Oh, here we go. I was getting worried we'd actually get to have a conversation that did not involve 'hot Neil' somehow. But no, I worried for nothing. Life's still in its normal course and the world revolves around Neil." Lucas turned to sarcasm in the face of not knowing how to react to Brooke's worries and threats otherwise.
Brooke was quiet for a moment. She was trying to make sense of him. There was something worrying about him that she had felt already when she decided to pay him a visit, but now at the mention of Neil it became so evident she knew she should be able to grasp what was going on.
"You are jealous!" she almost screamed, when all of a sudden the feeling in her stomach and Lucas's behavior, all made sense. She was absolutely right to come here and yell at him. Lucas sighed trying to find something to say. "Don't even try to deny it. You so are jealous of Neil.."
"Well the guy comes here and all of a sudden everything revolves around him. It's like everyone's under the 'hot Neil spell' and nothing's like it used to be." Lucas defended causing Brooke to smile amused. "What?"
"That just sounds like someone I dated a lifetime ago in High school. This guy entered varsity basketball team and all of a sudden everyone was talking about him, two very unfortunate girls fell under his spell and my friend Nathan, who used to be the star of the team had to forever share his place in the sun with the new guy."
"This isn't high school, Brooke." Lucas rolled his eyes.
"No it isn't. So stay the hell away from Peyton!" Brooke ordered. "Besides, Luke, you are married to Lindsey."
"So you haven't heard yet?" Lucas asked. News traveled so fast in small towns like Tree Hill that it felt unreal Brooke wouldn't have gotten the memo by now. Granted it hadn't even been a week since Lindsey moved out.
"Heard what?" Lucas rose his empty left hand for her to see. "Oh."
"Yeah. I know it still doesn't give me any claim over Peyton. I screwed up big time, many times. She deserves the best - someone better than me." Lucas explained sincerely. "But Lindsey and I have separated and it is definitely over. We'll get a divorce, when things calm down."
"Luke, what happened?" Brooke asked so gently it was quite unbelievable she had just given him such a hard time.
Lucas chuckled dryly trying to find words to explain it all. "All detailed explanations are very embarrassing. The short and vague version is just that our love was far from great or epic. In all honesty we probably never should have gotten married in the first place." He saw that Brooke looked much less surprised than when she heard about the separation. "But something tells me you've known that all along..?"
"Somehow I feel like you just told me the story of how my life could have ended up had you married me in High School." Brooke said quietly. "I told Peyton seven years ago that I had been Lindsey, and I guess I really was right."
"It wasn't like High School.. It was just so far from right we both ended up being much emptier versions of ourselves even though we kept up good appearances and never fought." Lucas tried to explain. "It wasn't Peyton's fault.."
"I know. Of course it wasn't. But when you use words epic and great in explanation anyone even half as smart as me could say what you really were saying was that she wasn't Peyton." Brooke rolled her eyes.
"Like I said, I don't expect ever to get the grace of trying again with Peyton. I'm at the end of seven years of miserably unconnected marriage, I could never put Peyton go through a hell like that. I told Brandon that she's so special that most men aren't good enough for her. With the way I have screwed up in this life I'd be a hypocrite to think I was good enough for her."
Brooke looked at him sternly. She knew Lucas was always dangerous around Peyton. But he really seemed to sincerely believe he wasn't good enough for her best friend and that was at least a promising start to the mess that so inevitably right around the corner.
"Good. As your friend, I am sorry for what you've gone through and going through. But as Peyton's best friend, I still stand by what I said before: If you screw up Peyton and Neil's relationship in Any Way, I'll make your life worse than your worst nightmares. Got it?"
Lucas nodded obediently.
Nathan and Lydia were intently watching a special top 10 show of Red Bedroom artists on MTV.
"Don't mama look so pretty?" Lydia sighed, when Haley's music video of Flying Machine came on. Nathan had no arguments to his daughter. "I wanna be just like mama, when I grow up. I wanna be a rock star. Is that alright?"
Nathan smiled at his daughter. She had this incredible gift of being enchanted by things. She got so excited about everything she saw that she came up with new dreams almost daily. He had never been like that and neither had Jamie, he was pretty sure Haley hadn't either. Lydia being just like Haley had been his dream since their wedding night so it felt funny that she'd choose the exact same words now at age of five. But these past five years had changed the dream in his mind.
Lydia was just like Haley in a lot of ways and he was extremely happy about that. But there were also other, just as endearing sides to the girl that were nothing like his incredible wife. Having learned who Lydia was, he no longer wanted her to be just like Haley.
"Sure you can be a rock star if you want to." Nathan took the girl to his lap. "But you know what I want more than anything else in the world..?"
"What?" Lydia's eyes were glistening of excitement. It sounded like her daddy had something really important to share with her.
"I want you to be just like you. You can be anything you want and even a lot of things, but I want you to be my incredible and beautiful Lydia Peyton Scott, no matter what."
"But daddy, I'm already Lydia Peyton Scott." Lydia giggled. Her daddy was just so silly sometimes.
"I know, and that's the only thing that matters." Nathan smiled. Life was so simple to a five-year-old. "Did you know that your mommy was also a teacher?"
"No, mommy's not a teacher. Mrs Cook is a teacher." Lydia thought her dad was going even crazier.
"Yeah, Mrs Cook is your teacher. But, when Jamie was your age mommy was a teacher in Tree Hill High. And when we were in High School mommy was a tutor and quite nerdy, but she was still just as amazing as she is now. My point is that, if you want to be a rock star you can. But it's equally cool to be whatever you want to be. And just like your mom, you can even do a lot of things you like, if you want." Nathan explained.
"I see, SillyD has gotten her first 'daddy's life lesson'. She's surely a real Scott now." Jamie commented coming in with Lucas.
Lydia hopped to hug both her brother and her uncle. When they were all settled she asked, "What's a daddy's life lesson, Jamie?"
"What you just had." He said and then changed his voice to mock Nathan's much lower voice. "You're the greatest trophy of all, I don't want you to be like anyone else, one day you'll have a monument and when you have kids of your own they'll be even greater than all the trophies and monuments.."
Lucas chuckled at his godson. That side of Nathan was something he didn't see that often, and before he became a father you would never have guessed Nathan to be like that. But being a father had definitely brought out the inspirational speaker in his brother.
"Although, I wouldn't be surprised if you never got the kids of your own speeches. I don't think he'll ever want to think about you like that.." Jamie laughed and stuck a tongue out to his dad.
"Directed by Peyton Sawyer? Peyton has been directing music videos?" Lucas had seen the name on the screen and all of a sudden the banter around him just faded away.
"Yeah. She's been directing some of her artists' videos for years. What you didn't know about that?" Nathan asked surprised. "Oh, this is the one I've been waiting for. Haley said that Neil appears in this one."
"Oh, no way, not you too. I can't remember the last time a conversation didn't lead to Neil, it's so annoying." Lucas growled.
"Luke, I'm totally with you on that. He comes to town and all of a sudden everyone is so enchanted by him that nothing's the way it used to. And now Peyton called today to ask if it was okay for her to bring Neil with her to tomorrow's barbeque.."
"Oh, no way, not you too.." it was Jamie's turn to growl. "Uncle Lucas has been jealous of him since Monday."
"You've been jealous of him?" Nathan asked his brother. Then he realized it would have been bigger news had he not been. "Of course you've been jealous of him."
"Well, right now I'm even jealous of you. Y'all know all these things about Peyton and I'm just so out of everything, it seems. We used to be good friends. Now it's like I know nothing about her. What happened?"
"That must be a rhetorical question." Nathan looked at him incredulously.
"What's a rhetorical question?" Lydia butted in.
"It's a question that you don't need to answer." Jamie explained.
"Why would anyone want to ask questions if you didn't need to answer them?" the little girl asked confused.
"Sometimes it's a way to make the other one think about things, even though everyone already knew the answer to the question." Lucas explained to her.
He thought he was doing pretty good job, but the little girl seemed offended and almost as mad as Brooke had been just earlier in the day. "Well, I think it's Stupid. I don't know the answer!" she yelled and marched out of the living room.
A/N: so there's that. What'd you think? What would you like to see? With this chapter I figured that I can tell the story pretty well in many different ways, so let me know what you think.. Thanks for being so awesome! Can't wait to hear your thoughts..