This quick update is a thank you to dianehermans, for her encouragement. As usual, I don't own OTH.

Chapter 6 – The remainder of Thursday

Clothes over Bros had the top three floors in an upscale building midtown, and Brooke's office and atelier was on the top floor. Lucas arrived at the reception desk precisely at half past twelve, and just told the receptionist "Lucas Scott, I'm expected". Thirty seconds later Brooke stepped out of her office and waved him in. She closed the door after him, and shut the curtains.

"Hi broody, thanks. I don't have much time, so lets get straight to business. Strip to your underwear."

Lucas stares at her. "Just like that? No foreplay, not even a kiss?" And he startes stripping, singing a little song, and swaying his hips. He certainly has his moves.

She stares at him, tip of the tongue showing between her lips, heart racing a bit. She had been looking forward to this the whole morning. Lucas, as he often does, exceeds expectations. So, what's under the clothes? Down to his underpants, he looks more than nice. He was already pretty fine in high school, but he had this scrawny thing going. Not anymore. Nineteen-year-old Lucas has the solid build of a mature professional athlete, broad shoulders, well-developed arms, legs and pecs, and a nice six-pack. Also, the beginnings of an erection. She gives him the tux. "Here, try it on." He dresses up and she inspects him. "turn around". She uses a couple of pins to mark adjustments to be made, and has him put his clothes back. "Let's eat, broody."

Lucas and Brooke always had an intense mutual physical attraction, and the little stripping action didn't help one bit. Lucas decides to put it in words. "If we are going to cool it off, we better stop flirting, cheerie. I am in serious need of a cold shower right about about now."

Brooke gives him one of her trademark dazzling smiles. "I'd go right in the shower with you, but I guess that would defeat the purpose, broody boy."

"You can't stop flirting, can you?"

She turns serious "To be honest, Luke, I am much more of an ice queen than a flirt these days. You are bringing back playful, girlie me. And I'm enjoying it too much to just stop. I know we are torturing Peyton, visibly falling for one another right in front of her. It's just that I am having a hard time bringing myself to care."

"You're saying that, but you're just as protective of her as I am."

"Oh, I still love Peyton. But I'm also mad at her. Maybe you don't realize this, but any girl knows that if the love of your life offers you a ring, you just take it. Life is too short and too complicated, and a ring is not marriage. It's a promisse. It means, I'm done looking, your're it for me, and someday, someday broody, not tomorrow, I'll marry you."

Lucas just stares at her. He had no idea the proposal thing cut Brooke so deep. Next she explains why.

I broke up with you almost two years ago, basically because she told me she had feelings for you. Sure, I was very afraid of what you guys had and of having my heart broken again, but I also loved Peyton a lot. Her happiness counted a great deal to me. So I broke up with you while I still was very much in love, and I pushed you to her. It nearly killed me to do it. You going after her, dating her all this time, and finally proposing to her, even if now it looks a little boneheaded, at least confirmed I was right. All that pain was not wasted. She turning your ring down, just made it all useless. I get why she did it, but you were right. She loved you, but she wasn't clear you're really the one guy for her." and Brooke lifts her eyes to Lucas', nearly in tears. "We haven't even kissed since the night we broke up. But, right now, if you went down in one knee and offered me that ring in earnest, I would probably take it. That's how it's supposed to work."

Lucas is stunned by Brooke's declaration. He just stands, looking into her eyes, as she looks into his, with a single tear coming down her face. "You mean that." Brooke just stares at him.

Finally, Lucas is able to gather enough of his wits to respond. He holds her face between his hands. "Pretty girl, I don't have a ring here with me. But I would be happy to promise you forever right now. Power couple, picket fence, two boys and a girl, and growing old together. Would you accept this promisse from me?"

"Yes I would."

The kiss, when it came, held all the longing, all the passion that they had been keeping for each other for years, plus the promisse of a future together. "We will do the ring thing later today, pretty girl. I have to go."

"See you later, fiancee."

oooooooooooooooo

Lucas arrives back at the penthouse at a quarter to two, his head still in the clouds. Jamie is napping and Peyton is sitting on his bed, making a sketch of the little boy, while listening to something on her I-pod. Lucas touches her gently on the arm, but she starts anyways.

"Lucas! Hi.. Hear this." She gives him one of the earpieces. It's a metal band but with an intense girl vocalist, sexy low register and the lyrics sound more like romance than angst. "I got the demo from a friend who owns an independent label called Green Cow, with a studio in Brooklyn. They just signed the band, and asked me if I would produce their first record. They have a show today, and I am going to meet with the band and talk."

I haven't seen her this excited in ages. "They are pretty good, Peyt. What's the name of the band?"

"Oxy Morons. The girl is a skinny platinum blond, hence the Oxy. I know, that's gotta change. The label is run by three guys in their thirties, criative and with excelent taste, but they figured I could get better rapport with the band than they could. The pay is crap, unless the record really sells, but the job is a dream come true, and I can probably manage the band too, if they go on tour. "

"I like their stuff, and I'll be curious to hear what they sound like after you play with it." I look at the her sketch. She's managed to capture Jamie's sweetness together with his likeness. "I really like the drawing too. Can I have it when you are done?"

"I was making it thinking of Brooke. A little thanks for her hospitality. I'll make you one later. You know, I hadn't drawn anything in six months. It's like coming here, listening to this band, spending the morning with Jamie, I am really coming back to myself. If everything works out with the Oxy Morons tonight, I'm going to send my resignation to Sia tomorrow. One of my favorite sketches ever was of Jake holding Jenny. Do you remember?"

"Yes I do."

"I'll do one like that for you, with you and Jamie in the bjorn."

All of a sudden, some of the pure joy I was feeling turns into guilt. We'll have to come clean soon.

I try to reach for a distraction. "Are you still in touch with Jake? We exchanged christmas cards last year, so I know he still in Savannah, but we haven't spoken since college started."

Now Peyton looks a little unconfortable. "No, not really. I have't been in touch since, well, for a long time. It's good to know he is still in Savannah. I'll probably give him a call sometime this week, maybe I'll go visit him."

I look at my watch. "You should probably get going."

"Right. See you tomorrow, I guess. Same routine? I'll try to arrange a visit to the Green Cow studio in the afternoon, but I'll be back to babysit Jamie for your "date" with Brooke."

"That will be fine. Thanks Peyton."

"It's really my pleasure."

Peyton kisses Jamie in the cheek and leaves. She is bouncy in a way Lucas hasn't seen since high school.

Lucas picks up sleeping Jamie, and places him in the bjorn, to go out. He has to do a little shopping, and a little cooking this afternoon, and he doen't have much time.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Brooke arrives at a quarter to six, and finds Lucas lying on his bed, reading a book to Jamie.

"Would you like them, ... in a house? Would you like them, ... with a mouse... oh. Hi, Pretty girl."

Brooke gives Lucas a quick kiss on the lips and lies on the bed, next to Lucas. "Don't let me interrupt, fiancee. I just love the Doctor."

"...I do so like... Green eggs and ham! Thank you, thank you... Sam-I-am." Lucas closes the book and looks at his audience. Jamie is quietly playing with his fingers, and Brooke is looking at him, her eyes sparkling and a little smile in her face.

"You have no idea how much I missed that. Do we really have to return Jamie?"

"I think Nate and Hales will insist on it. But if we return him in good condition, we can probably borrow him again. And besides, I'll read for you as much as you want. I have a full collection of Dr Seuss too. Should we go for our run? I have a little surprise for you."

"Give me ten minutes."

Lucas and Brooke, with Jamie in the bjorn, run until the Bethesda fountain and start back. As Brooke heads towards her apartment, Lucas stops her. "Wait, pretty girl. We go to the Plaza. I got us a suite there for tonight, plus a couple of hours of babysitting from the staff. I thought we might want some Brucas time, without the possibility os being interrupted by some random ex-girlfriend."

Brooke smiles. "Good thinking, fiancee. In and out through the side? We want to avoid papparazzi, and the Plaza always has some on the lookout."

"That's fine." Lucas stops at a street vendor and buys a small baseball cap. "Here. That should make you even harder to spot." They enter through the side, and Brooke waits near the elevators with Jamie, while Lucas goes check them in. At the suite, a young woman picks up Jamie and his bag. "Isn't he a sweetie..." She is staring at Lucas, flirting openly."He looks just like you! We will be back in two hours." Lucas gives her a nice tip.

Brooke sighs, "Really. I'd forgotten this part. Every female, eight or eighty, has to hit on you. It's worse than dating Brad Pitt. At least everybody knows he is taken."

"I have it probably worse, pretty girl. You walk in anywhere, and every male in the room takes notice. And the girls stare too, in the old days with envy, but these days, half of them want an autograph. Well, you're certainly worth it. I ordered some dinner. A greek salad, spaguetti and meatballs, strawberry cheesecake for desert. Hungry?"

"First I need a shower. She heads to the bathroom, turns around and looks at me with a dimpled smile. You coming?"

About an hour later, and very satisfied, Lucas and Brooke sit down to have dinner. At the end, Lucas makes his move. "Well, let me try to do this properly." Lucas produces a small box, one that Brooke saw less than two weeks ago. He bends down on one knee in front of her. "Brooke, I don't deserve you, but I promise to spend the rest of my life trying my best to make you happy. You are the girl for me, Brooke Davis, the love of my life. Will you marry me?"

Brooke's eyes fill with tears. "Yup, you did that right again, broody. Yes, I'll marry you." He places the ring in her finger and kisses her softly.

"I have something else for you." Lucas produces a Tiffany box, with a plain gold chain.

"I guess our engagement, for now, is in the down low, so you can keep the ring in this chain, if you want. You can even show the ring around, because the only person who would recognize it is my mother. By the way, do You know what she is going to say?"

"What?"

"That she is happy this ring ended in the right place. She loves you like a daughter, pretty girl. I am sure Keith would have thought exactly the same."

"Thank you. You know your mother is the closest this I have for a mother too. I have a little gift for you too." She produces a thin long black box from her robe's pocket. It's a thin gold Patek Phillipe watch, with "L & B" engraved on the back.

"Thank you Brooke Davis, soon to be Scott. It's perfect."

"We aim to please, fiancee."

"Can I look at that tatoo again?" She smiles and opens her robe to shows it. I touch it, and continue softly. "That tat has been in my dreams since the first time I saw it". Once we had a fight, me and Peyton, and she said she hated my tatoo, because you had one just like it in your girl parts. And that it didn't mean fun. I actually looked it up afterwards. It means love.

"I looked up its meaning once. Love, Brooke, not fun. On our first date. I thought we were just having fun. You knew better, didn't you?"

Brooke smile widens. "That's right, baby. Our first date. I was already falling for you, and I knew it. I think you only really caught up at the beach, after the winter formal."

"That's exactly right. After that night, I couldn't get you out of my head anymore. The truth is, since then, I've never really stopped being in love with you."

Brooke sits on Lucas lap, puts her arms around his neck and gives him a passionate kiss. "Looking into his eyes. "We haven't really talked about what's happening with us. I have to tell you something, although I think you already know most of it."

"OK, go on."

"In the past year, my mother came to live with me, and I buried myself in work. I like having my mother's attention, maybe for the first time in my life, but it is emotionally frustrating. Being the boss of a large group of people also tends to isolate you from the people around you. After a year, I was actually feeling my heart turning to stone. I was numb, couldn't really feel anything anymore. It was frightening, because I felt was turning into my mother, which, in a sense, is my worst nightmare. And then you showed up."

"All confused and broken up. I know. You have a hero complex as bad as my own. You needed to help me and Peyton, to save us. But we do have this thing between us. We have to fight very hard not to give in to it. I was never much good at fighting it, but stubborn you... I guess you were not really in the mood to fight it, anymore. It felt too good, after this past year. It felt right. You're right Brooke, I get it."

"The truth is, even now, I am not sure about what we are doing. My head has not really caught up with my heart. I think what happened is that, with my running a large company, I learned to gamble with my eyes open. I am much more afraid of turning into my mother than I am of heartbreak. I learned to judge people and to trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me you're not the boy from high school anymore either. I feel that I can trust you."

"The hardest thing I was doing last year was to learn to be a basketball coach. Of course I had Whitey to teach me, which helps. I was learning to play the game I love with people, not with a ball. The coach's game goes on all the time, mainly inside the player's heads and hearts. I guess I learned a lot about gambling with my eyes open and about judging people and trusting my instincts too. We were always so different, you and I, but all of a sudden, things change. I get what you are thinking, and I feel you get what I am thinking. We can be a team."

"You're right. This is new. And it is the main reason I've been willing to go on this crazy ride with you. I've never trusted anyone like I feel I can trust you now. It's an incredible high, which I hope doesn't end."

"I have this a little with Nate when we are playing ball, we've trained together so long that we were always a bit inside each other's head while playing and I have it with Haley. She is my heart's sister and, most of the time, I can tell exactly what she is thinking. The scary part is that I get how she feels about Nate." Lucas shudders. "Haley said, a while back, that you're my Nathan. She is not wrong. I hope I can be your Haley."

Brooke laughs. "We are not much like them as a couple, but I like the analogy. You and Haley saved me and Nathan in high school. You gave us love we couldn't find in our families, and you helped us grow. You saved me again when you showed up here in New York."

"We saved each other in New York."

"You know, I never had this "inside each other's head" thing with Peyton, but, scary enough, I have it a bit with my mother. When she gets over herself we actually make a pretty good team. I just wish she had a heart."

"Oh, she has a heart. She just hides it very intently, specially from you. You are her weak spot, you know. I've seen her looking at you like a mother, when you're turned the other way. I agree with you, you are more alike than either of you would like to acknowledge."

"I hate to tell you, but you are also more like Dan than you know, or care to be."

"I know that. It frightens me just as being like Victoria frightens you. Sometimes I have this fantasy, or this nightmare, of the two of them together. That night would fall, and the world would come to an end."

"You know they are old friends. It could have happened, maybe it even did, although I don't see either one going for it. They are both a bit too strong and controlling to get along easily. I don't really get Dan and Karen, either. Karen is a bit too strong also."

"I understand it was a different Dan in high school. And push came to shove, he chose Deb. She is a lot easier to manipulate than my mom."

"I'm dying to tell your mother. She is coming in two weeks, to spend a week. Andy is coming with her, but he will be here at least a month, to organize the expansion and prepare to take Clothes over Bros public. I've been consulting with him every day. The plan is that, in a couple of years, I'll be worth a ton of money and I'll only have to work half as hard. At that stage, my business will be a small design and fashion consulting firm. It will be portable, so that I can relocate it anywhere to be with you."

"Would you like to live in Tree Hill?"

"I would love to raise our children there."

"Hm. I'm so glad Peyton said no.."

"So am I, broody, so am I."