Chapter 14

Nathan and Brooke continued to enjoy a peaceful existence in San Antonio. Brooke joined Nathan on his walks through the park on Saturday mornings, and even Patrick tagged along sometimes. Within time and patience, they had become a family and neither Nathan nor Brooke had ever felt more at ease than now.

One morning, Brooke was at Nathan's. Since Peyton had taken Jenny and Patrick camping, she spent the night in there. Nathan was taking a shower so when the doorbell rang; she went to get the door.

There was a brunette woman standing in front of her. She was not too tall, but really pretty. She was smiling broadly and her dark brown eyes were looking at Brooke questioning…

"Can I help you?" asked Brooke

"Well, I might have the wrong address, perhaps, but I was sure this was the place…" said the woman with a thick accent. She seemed foreigner. "Well, my fiancé would know better…" she smiled one more time

"Who are you looking for?" asked Brooke politely

"Nathan Scott" said the woman

"He's in the shower" smiled Brooke

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!!!" replied she "Nathan never told me…I'm gonna kill him"

Brooke smiled, she had no idea who this woman was but she seemed nice…

"And excuse me, you are…" she started but then she heard a voice that paralyzed her

"Bella, hon, is Nathan home?" Lucas' voice came from the hallway

"Actually, I found something else" smiled Bella at Lucas "come look what answered your brother's door"

There was no coming back… Brooke stood there, at the door, in Nathan's shirt, ready for the inevitable

"What is it?" asked Lucas and his voice trailed off at the sight "Brooke…" he said slowly

"Lucas…" said Brooke

"Brooke?" said Bella " 'The' Brooke?" she looked at Brooke in awe

Then Nathan came to the door "Brooke, honey, is everything OK?"

He stopped at the looks of Bella and Lucas… everyone was silent, no one knew what to say…

Bella saw everyone's look "OK, first… let's get in. No need for us to be standing in the hallway" she said as she got in grabbing Lucas from the arm and pulling him into the apartment "close the door, please" she said to Brooke who obeyed.

Bella sighed "Second, let me hug you, Nathan" she said hugging him and smiling "it's good to see you"

"Yeah…" said Nathan, still shocked

Bella went on "Third, Lucas, go hug your brother… you haven't seen him in over a year" she ordered and Lucas obeyed. Brooke smiled when she saw how Bella was taking charge. Peyton was right when she said Bella was perfect for Lucas

"Four…" went on Bella and looked at Brooke "Hi, I'm Bella Tomazzi, Lucas' fiancée. You must be Brooke and it's nice to meet you" she shook Brooke's hand. "And five, let's make some tea… we all gonna need it" she headed for the kitchen

Lucas, Nathan and Brooke stood there, all looking at each other… Nathan decided it was time to face part of the mess…

"Lucas…" he said "It's great to see you again. I assume you remember Brooke" he said while he grabbed Brooke by the waist and she got her hand in her chest, smiling…

"Hello Lucas" she said shyly.

Lucas nodded "Hello…" he said "sorry, this is quite a surprise…" he tried to smile tenderly "When did this happen?"

"I was gonna call you and let you know… but we were taken this slowly…" started Nathan "Brooke moved in here at the beginning of the year and she's the team's PR person. And well, we…"

"You guys hit it off…" said Lucas

"You could say that" said Brooke

Lucas smiled "That's OK… sorry, it was a shock at first, especially because I haven't seen you since you left Tree Hill" he smiled and went around the room. He noticed a picture of Nathan and Brooke. There was a kid with them…

"Who's the kid?" he asked estranged. Brooke and Nathan looked at each other

'It's time to face this…" Brooke thought "He's my son, Lucas… he's 10 years old"

Lucas froze… Bella froze… Nathan held Brooke in his arms.

Lucas spoke "Your son?"

Brooke nodded "I was pregnant when I left Tree Hill…"

"But you told me it was a false alarm" said Lucas "Why did you lie to me?" his mind was racing along with his heart "Is he…Is he mine?" he finally got the courage to ask.

Brooke looked at him, tears in her eyes… "I don't know, Luke. That's why I left… I couldn't just make you change your life and take responsibility for a kid I didn't even know you were the father or not. I was scared, tired, I made some bad decisions and then I figured it was time to clean up the mess. So I left… I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen… my plan was to vanish from everyone's lives. But then I found Nathan again and I just fell for him..."

Brooke was crying, and while both Nathan and Lucas stood there speechless, Bella went to her

"It's OK, cara" she said hugging Brooke "Everything is fine…" she turned around to address both Nathan and Lucas "I'm gonna talk to her in the kitchen, you guys deal with it between yourselves" and with that, she took Brooke to the kitchen

Bella poured some tea and gave it to Brooke. Bella just stood there smiling…

"You must think I'm a horrible person" said Brooke

"Why?" Bella asked estranged

"Well, I'll lie to Lucas and kept his probably son away from him for 10 years. Not to mention that now I'm involved with his brother" replied Brooke

"And?" said Bella. Brooke was surprised. Bella went on "You were a kid, Brooke. You made a choice; good or bad, you did what you thought was best for you and your baby at the moment. I'm no one to judge you…"

"Not even for the fact that I don't know who the father is?" asked Brooke

"You had a past, it's your concern and I'm certainly no one to pass judgment on that topic" Bella smiled sadly and Brooke looked at her intrigued "Let's just say you're not the only one with a past in this room" Bella smiled "My track and reputation spoke for itself back in Rome."

"Really?" asked Brooke

"Oh yeah" said Bella "I had issues growing up. I was the only child of a famous soccer player and always thought I wasn't good enough to live up to that heritage. So, I did a few wild things… I was more settled when I met Lucas, but it was still hard to confess that part of my life to him. He was pretty cool about it"

"I'm glad for you…" said Brooke

"Deep inside, I think he was still looking for redemption about what he said to you…" Bella said "he never forgave himself for calling you that…"

"He was right" acknowledged Brooke

"No, he wasn't" stated Bella "He was just a teenager, like you were. So, I know it's not my place or anything… but if you ask me, you need to look forward and not behind. Let's work with what we got…"

"And how we do that?"

"He deserves to know if he's his son, Brooke. Then we can all deal with it. But if Lucas is the father, he might want to be part of the kid's life. And you can't deny him that…" said Bella

"Would you be OK with it?" asked Brooke. Last thing she wanted was a mean stepmother for Patrick

"Of course. Lucas has a past, so did I. And I promise you, your son would be taken care of and loved all the time he spends with me"

Brooke felt like she could relate to Bella "thanks…" she said

"Don't mention it. We're sisters in law. And for the record, you're way cooler than Haley" said Bella "She and I never got along…"

"I've heard" said Brooke smiling

Lucas and Nathan were on the living room, both looking at each other.

"So, you knew and you didn't say anything…" said Lucas

"Luke, brother, I'm sorry. But I promised Brooke I wouldn't. She had some rough years raising Patrick on her own and working herself through college and all. When she got here, it was the first time in a while she had peace in her life…"

"But still, he could be my son, Nathan. I might have a kid!"

"I know Lucas, but try to understand. We knew we had to face this, but we just wanted some peaceful time before doing it… Patrick was just getting used to the idea of us dating and we didn't want to put more things on his mind…We were going to tell you…"

"When?" asked Lucas

"Soon… we were toying with the idea of going to Italy to visit you. It's not something you can say on the phone. Brooke was trying to find the courage…"

Lucas stared at his brother. There was a spark in Nathan's eyes that he hadn't seen in a while

"You really love her…" Lucas said

Nathan nodded smiling "I do, Luke. She's the one for me, brother… and I know this is hard but I'm hoping you could make peace with this quickly…"

Lucas went silent for a while. Then he smiled "Of course… I just want to know if he's mine, you know? I might have a son…"

"Yeah, I know. But let me tell you something. I don't know if you have a son or not, but you definitely have a nephew, because I love this kid as my own…" Nathan smiled

Lucas hugged him "I'm glad you've found the peace you were looking for, brother"

"Me too. And for the record, I don't think he's yours… he doesn't brood" stated Nathan

Lucas laughed and hit Nathan playfully in the shoulder. Brooke and Bella entered the living at that moment

Brooke looked at Lucas reluctantly. He smiled at her

"Let's just find out if he's my kid, OK? And then we'll deal with the rest… but let me tell you, it's good to see you again, Brooke. And even though I might not agree with what you did, I understand your reasons. So, no resentment or anger, because we might have a kid together and even if, you're my brother's girlfriend…"

He hugged Brooke tenderly "I'm so sorry for what I said all those years ago…" he said softly

Brooke hugged him back "It's in the past, Luke. Let's just work on the future"