Author's Note: Here is the final part. Please review and let me know what you think. Flashbacks are in italics. Also, just so everyone knows this story kind of ignores the 'comet' book that Lucas wrote – I'm basically pretending that he didn't write it because I really don't see a way that I can get around it. The end is also a bit cheesy and is fluffy, but I think they both deserve that. I'm going to be writing some more one-shots soon; I have a few ideas floating around in my head that I'm going to try and get typed up within the next few days.
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Brooke sighed as she flipped her cell phone shut. There were another three missed calls from Lucas and three voicemails from him to accompany them. He had been calling her three times a day since the night they baby-sat Jamie last week. She refused to answer his calls after their fight. Especially since he now knew why she had broken up with him in the first place. It was a topic she had planned on avoiding with him at all costs because she knew that it would just make things awkward.
She threw her body down on the couch, snuggling underneath a black chenille blanket that she had bought for her new house. She was only wearing a white camisole and low hip slung destroyed jeans, but she was too lazy to go upstairs and find something warmer to wear.
Brooke's eyes fell to the window and gazed out into the stormy night outside. She hated when it rained in Tree Hill. It reminded her of Lucas, how when it rained she used to find solace in his arms after she drove to his house at all hours of the night. It also reminded her of the night they had their fight in the rain about Peyton.
"The truth is, I care about Peyton"
"Then what is the difference?"
"The difference? The difference is I love you, Brooke. I want to be with you, not Peyton"
"But why, I need to know why"
"Because you kink your eyebrow when you're trying to be cute, because you quote Camus even though I've never actually seen you read and because you miss your parents, but you'll never ever admit that and because I've given exactly two of these embarrassing speeches in my entire life and they've both been with you. I mean, that's gotta mean something, right? And because we're both gonna get pneumonia, but if you need to hear why I love you, I can go on all night."
She was jerked out of her thoughts when she saw a pair of headlights pulling up her driveway and as she looked closer she recognized that the car outside belonged to Lucas.
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Lucas bolted from his car and made a mad dash to Brooke's front door. It was ironic, he thought, that the door to her new house was red, just like her house in high school, just like he had painted the door to his room. As he stood on the front stops and rang the doorbell he prayed that she would answer. He had been calling her obsessively for a week. He needed to talk to her and continue the conversation they had before Nathan and Haley came home.
&
Lucas sighed as he shut his phone closed after leaving another voicemail for Brooke. She hadn't answered any of his calls and it had been four days since their confrontation at Nathan and Haley's.
"Dude, what did you do to Brooke that has caused her to not answer your phone calls? I mean when Haley and I walked into that room there was some tension going on between you two. Haley swears she saw Brooke crying." Nathan stated, looking as his older brother as the two sat on the picnic table by the River Court.
"I asked her why she broke up with me in senior year. Once she told me that it was because of Peyton, I accused her of always running away from me and she spat back some stuff about how I was in love with Peyton and would always go back to her, then you two came home."
"You didn't throw the night in New York back at her did you?"
Lucas was shocked. He didn't know that Nathan knew about that night. He never told anyone. "How do you know what happened in New York?"
"Brooke told me, man. You underestimate how close she and I are. She called me the next day sobbing, telling me that you two pretended to be engaged and that you kissed her. She was a complete mess," Nathan continued, feeling a bit bad that he was telling Lucas all these things about Brooke, but Lucas needed to know how badly he had hurt Brooke.
"Haley was the one who let it slip that Brooke dumped me because of Peyton. Did you know that too?"
Nathan nodded in response as he spun a basketball around on his finger. "Why didn't you tell me? Damn it, Nathan. Did everyone know but me?" Lucas was angry, he could tell. Nathan nodded again, because the truth was, everyone did know Brooke broke up with Lucas because of Peyton. Hell, Peyton knew. As did Mouth, Skills, Bevin and Rachel.
"Honestly, Luke, because you didn't deserve to know. You know I got your back man, but you broke that girl. Brooke loved you and gave you everything she had, but you didn't even pay attention to her. You spent most of your time with Peyton and it killed Brooke. She pushed you away because she knew she was going to get her heart broken again. She deserves so much better than you, but that's not what she wants."
"What do you mean?"
"I shouldn't be telling you this."
"Nate, come on, just tell me. I need to know. I have to fix things with her. She said we were never really friends" Lucas urged his brother.
"All right. Brooke loves you – always has, always will. She gave you up because she was being selfless and she wanted Peyton to be happy and she thought that was what you wanted. Nonetheless, she still loves you, but more than anything she wants you to be happy, even if that's without her."
"I don't want to be without her though," Lucas breathed.
"Do you love
her?" Nathan questioned. It was at this moment that Lucas realized
that he overlooked the friendship his brother had with Brooke. Nathan
clearly knew Brooke better than he did and that killed him. He wanted
to know Brooke. He wanted her in his life.
"I honestly don't know, but I can't imagine my life without her in it," Lucas answered.
"Then you need to tell her that and soon. I know she's hurting right now."
&
Brooke opened the door for Lucas after he rang the doorbell a few times. She figured she had to talk to him at some point or else he'd just keep calling her. Lucas's head shot up as he heard the door open. He smiled slightly at her and made his way inside the house, stopping in front of the stairs.
"Why are you here?" her voice was cold and annoyed. She was still mad.
"I had to come. You wouldn't answer my calls. I didn't know what else to do. I needed to talk to you" his voice was shaking as he answered her question. He noticed that as he spoke she wrapped the blanket she had around her shoulders closer to her. He wanted to believe it was because she was cold, but deep down he knew it was almost a way of Brooke protecting herself from him.
"So talk" she spat out. Lucas sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. It was now or never, he guessed.
"You said it didn't matter – the reason why we broke up – you said it didn't matter now, but it does. It has always mattered and it will always matter to me. Things could have been so different, Brooke! It still matters because things can still be different."
"How?"
"I can't imagine my life without you in it. I need you in my life, I don't need Peyton in my life."
Brooke had expected him to give some big speech, but she hadn't expected this. She didn't expect him to tell her that he needed her; she also hadn't expected the room to feel like it was spinning when he said it, nor had she expected her knees to almost buckle underneath her. She had been waiting for him to say that he needed her for years and here it finally was.
"I'm not pushing you away, Lucas, I am holding on for dear life, but I need you to need me back."
"So, what are you saying? Are you saying that you love me?" Her voice seemed to rise with each syllable that left her mouth. He hadn't expected her to get angry with him.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. I love you, Brooke Penelope Davis. I always have. You told me once that you would always love me, so I know you love me too."
"Who the hell do you think you are? Do you really think that you can just bombard my house in the middle of the night and tell me you love me? After all this time? We haven't been together in over five years!" Brooke's eyes were clouded with anger. Their normal shade of hazel seemed to be much darker. By then she had thrown the blanket covering her body off of her and was pacing around. "You can't just do this Lucas, it's not fair to me! I've been trying to get over you for years, for gods sake your first book was entirely about Peyton! Our relationship was barely even mentioned. You clearly didn't value what we had at all, so why do you think you can just pull this now? You can't just come here and tell me you love me!" She was screaming and it killed him. It killed him to see the pain in her eyes; he had always been the one to hurt her. Sure, she had hurt him when she slept with Chris Keller, but that pain seemed nonexistent compared to what she was voicing right now.
"Please, just listen to me. I'm in love with you. I need you, Brooke, and I know you need me too. Just be with me again." By the end of the sentence Lucas had inched his way towards her and was close enough to feel the sudden change in her breathing; it was getting deeper, faster.
"Lucas, don't do this," she breathed out as one of her hands pushed against his chest, trying to push him away from her. "Don't do this to me, I can't. Peyton loves you, you love her, I won't be that girl again for you."
Lucas bent down a bit and placed his mouth next to her ear before saying, "I already talked to Peyton today. I told her that I wasn't in love with her. I told her I wanted you and only you for the rest of my life. She's angry and upset but she'll get over it – I want you." Brooke looked up into his eyes and saw them shining, just like they did when he looked at her in high school. Suddenly his hands were on her hips, pulling her closer towards him as his lips attacked hers. She was still for a moment before responding to the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and allowing his tongue entrance into her mouth.
The kiss lasted all of about ten seconds before something inside of her snapped and she shoved him away with a muffled, "I can't" leaving her lips.
"But I- " he began and was cut off.
"I mean, I can't do this without knowing why. I need to know why. Why me? Why not Peyton?" Lucas smirked and realized he was finally getting Brooke to bring down her walls. This question was the exact same he had answered back in senior year.
"Because you're Jamie's best friend and you're going to be an amazing mother someday, because you've achieved everything you've ever dreamed of and still want more, because you put others before yourself and love your friends unconditionally and because you challenge me, Brooke. You make me want to be a better person and I cannot imagine another moment in my life without you in it."
And there it was. Everything was finally out on the table between the two, but Brooke was silent, unusually silent. He hadn't expected her to not say anything after that speech. She stood there just looking at him, breathing slowly in and out, in and out. He moved closer to her, trying to gauge her reaction, but there was none.
"Brooke? Are you okay? Are you going to say-" with that she had launched herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, her lips crashing down onto his. He backed them both up to the wall next to the staircase, her back slamming into the wall as his mouth explored hers. His hands were on her hips, on her back, in her hair, trying to make up for five years of being apart. His lips moved to her neck, kissing, sucking and teasing her and in between moans Brooke managed to get out, "I love you…I've always loved you…I'm yours."
A few hours later, Brooke was snuggled into Lucas's arms on her bed. Her head rested on his chest as she listened to his heartbeat. "Luke? Are you awake?"
"Of course. What is it?" He sat up a bit as Brooke pushed herself up, covering herself with a blanket.
"I just wanted to let you know that you're the only thing that has ever truly mattered to me and that I love you," she smiled timidly as the statement left her lips. Lucas lifted his right hand and brushed a piece of stray hair out of her face before cupping her cheek in his hand.
"You're the only thing that matters to me. I love you too and I promise that I will love you forever," he said before he sealed the promise with a soft kiss to her lips. It was in this moment together that Brooke and Lucas realized that the only thing that had ever mattered and the only thing that would ever matter to them was being together.