AN: Here's the graduation chapter! I meant for them to go to the hospital for Jamie's birth in this chapter but then I had a lightbulb moment and wanted to do something else.

This is a BRUCAS fic, so please keep that in mind as you proceed.

ENJOY!

Graduation had finally rolled around, and a lot had changed since the Championship and Lucas's accident.

After hearing about the accident, Duke had revoked the scholarship from Lucas. He couldn't say he was surprised, or really as upset as he should have been. He decided to instead go to UNC Wilmington, giving him the option to just commute to the school from their house. Karen's Café was doing well, and after giving it a lot of thought, Brooke decided she was going to stay back in Tree Hill and run the Café.

Brooke and Lucas were going strong, and they couldn't have been happier with their lives. Lily was 9 months now, and Lucas no longer dwelled on what it would be like if his parents were still alive. She was standing on her own now, and both Brooke and Lucas were waiting for her to take her first few steps. If you were anybody who didn't know about their little family, Lily did look like her parents. She looked like Lucas, with his big blue eyes and facial structure, and Brooke's dark hair. Although Brooke would never say it was her dark hair, because it was Karen's.

"Lucas!" Brooke yelled, a smile growing on her face as Lily stood up. "Lucas!"

"Brooke, give me a minute! I told you I would-" Stopping in his tracks, the blonde gasped and sprinted back to their room, running back with a camera. "Okay, so we've played this game before, but we're pretty sure Lily is about to take her first steps!"

"Okay sweetie, come to mommy! Come on, you can do it!" Brooke stretched her arms out and Lily squealed, letting go of the table and moving towards her mother. "Yes, that's it, one more step baby girl!" Taking another step forward, Brooke laughed and scooped Lily into her arms and kissed her face. Turning the camera off, Lucas grinned and ran up to his girls.

"You did it baby girl!" Lucas grinned, kissing Lily on the cheek. "Brooke… Are you crying?"

"Yes! My baby can walk!" She grinned, looking up at Lucas who just shook his head and laughed. Rolling her eyes, she hit him in the arm before setting Lily back down on the floor.

"Do we have everything we need?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek. Leaning into him, she smiled and nodded.

"I believe so. Let's go graduate."

xXx

Everything went smoothly, besides the fact Haley started having contractions during the middle of her valedictorian speech. It was after they had all crossed the stage when they noticed something was wrong. Taking Lily from Deb, who then scurried off to go to the hospital, Brooke approached Lucas, who was talking to Tim and Skills.

"Hey Davis, isn't that your mom and dad?" The brunette swung around and gasped as she saw her parents awkwardly standing in the back of the auditorium, looking for her.

"Okay Luke, time to go!" She said, grabbing his hand.

"What? Why? They're just your… Oh my god you didn't tell your parents about Lily." Lucas ran a hand over his face and shook his head. "Alright guys, we'll see you later, we have to make a sneaky exit."

Trying their best to make it around her parents, they almost made it past them before Lily decided she wanted to start fussing.

"Brooke? Is that you?" Closing her eyes and nodding, she turned around and smiled at her parents. "Oh Brooke! It's so good to see you!" Her mother, Victoria, said, before looking at the baby and then at Lucas.

"Hi mom… Dad… This is Lucas and Lily Scott." Victoria nodded and looked at the child. "Lily is… Lily is my daughter."

"What did you just say?"

"This," She nodded towards the baby, "Is my daughter. Lucas and I have a family together."

"So, I'm a grandpa?" Her father, Robert, asked. Earning a nod from Lucas, he smiled. "Well it's nice to meet you Lily and Lucas."

"Robert! Did you not hear her? She has a child!" As he looked at her confused, Victoria rolled her eyes. "She's a teenage mother who isn't even married! And we haven't been gone for that long, how could she of possibly gotten pregnant and raised her without our knowledge?"

"I don't see how-" Lucas held a hand up to stop Brooke from continuing.

"My dad is dead. My mom was pregnant and died from complications during childbirth. I had no clue what I was doing with a child that was left in my care, so Brooke stepped in and she helped me. We became a family. A couple weeks after her 18th birthday she signed custody papers that make her legally Lily's guardian." Victoria shook her head and looked at Brooke.

"Did you really throw your life away for a cute boy with a baby? You don't know the first thing about being a mother."

"Bitchtoria." Turning around, Brooke's eyes widened as she saw Peyton standing there. "I don't know if you know this, but you aren't welcome here."

"Peyton, I see you're still as rude as always."

"Yeah, yeah I am rude. And I've made mistakes, and I've said and done some things I'm not proud of. But I'm not going to let you sit here and tell Brooke she doesn't know anything about being a mother when you never were one. Do you know how often Brooke slept over at my house when we were younger because she was left home alone? How often she cried because we had these parent events that all the other kids had someone to take, but her? How lonely she was? You probably don't because you were never around. But she is an amazing mother, and gives Lily the unconditional love that you never gave her. I've seen her care for this baby, and she would give up everything for her. While you on the other hand gave her up. Now I think it's time for you to go." Standing up tall, Victoria turned to her husband.

"I think it's time we left."

"No, I think it's time you left." Robert replied, crossing his arms. "I've put up with you for too long, and I convinced myself that making you happy was the most important thing, when in reality, my daughter is. I'm a grandfather, and I'm going to stay and be the grandfather that this child deserves." Smiling softly at Brooke, she fought back tears. Turning around, Victoria said one last thing.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer." After she disappeared, Brooke turned to Peyton.

"Peyton… You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but she's a royal bitch and it was high time someone told her she was a terrible person. And I'm sorry, about everything."

"It's okay. I don't know if we'll ever be as close as we once were, but it's okay." The blonde waved at Lucas and Lily before vanishing in the crowds again. Looking back at her dad, Brooke smiled again.

"Brooke, I am so sorry. I wasn't here for you and you needed your parents. I don't know how I'll ever make it up to you." Looking at Lucas, he smiled warmly.

"Well, would you like to come over to our home and have dinner with us?" Robert thought about it for a moment before nodding politely. "Well, we should probably get going then."

xXx

"Nathan called, he said the baby won't be coming for a long time, probably not until tomorrow, they were sent home and told not to come back until the contractions were closer together." Lucas said, plopping down on the couch next to his girlfriend, who was happily watching her dad play with Lily on the floor. They had eaten an early dinner and per Brooke's request, Robert stayed a little longer.

"Do you see that Luke?" She asked, leaning her head to rest on his shoulder. "My dad's smiling, and playing with a baby. Our baby. He's okay with me having a baby."

"I do see. And I'm happy, Lily has a living grandparent who wants to see her, your dad wants to be part of your life, we graduated, Naley is having their baby… Today is a good day." He smiled, giving her a soft kiss on the top of her head as she tilted to look at him.

"You two are doing an amazing job." Robert commented as he carried Lily over to hand to her parents. "Although I would love to stay a little longer, I have to be prepared for your mother to call me tomorrow with her lawyer. After everything gets settled though, I think I'm going to move back here, be closer to you and my granddaughter."

"Okay, goodbye dad." Brooke stood up and hugged him, enjoying the feeling of having a parent. Lucas stood up and extended his hand.

"It was nice to meet you Mr. Davis." Robert laughed before pulling the blonde into a friendly hug that surprised him.

"Please, call me Robert. It was wonderful to meet you Lucas. Please take care of my daughter for me." The blonde nodded and walked him to the door while Brooke stayed back with Lily. "And Lucas, whenever you plan on popping the question, you have my blessing. Just make sure I'm one of the first to know."

Walking back towards his family, Lucas smiled as he saw Brooke help Lily take a few more steps before the baby plopped down on the ground. Watching as she swooped the baby up in her arm and began peppering her face with kisses, he realized everything Peyton had said about Brooke being an amazing mom was true. She gave Lily everything she had missed out on, and he knew the love he had developed for both of his girls was going to get stronger as time went on.

Brooke looked up from comforting her child and gave Lucas a happy grin. Everything was turning out better than she had imagined. While she was more than happy with just Lucas and Lily, the idea of having her dad around brought a warmth to her heart. Lily would get to grow up having a grandpa, and she would get to know her dad a little better than she had before.

"Did I tell you how much I love you yet?" She asked, bouncing Lily on her hip as she walked up to him. He shook his head and she looked him in the eyes. "I love you so much. I know it's just the beginning of our life together but I love you so much."

And she was right, this was just the beginning.

Okay, so I know I do a lot of time jumps in this story, but the next chapter will be the last time jump for a while! And while the others were months, this one is going to be the 5 year one. I kind of wanted to give Brooke a parent to bond with, and as much as I don't like Peyton, it felt fitting that she was the one to tell Bitchtoria what a crappy mother she is, since she and Brooke had been friends for a long time before then.