Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or "The Holiday."

Note: Once again, reviews were amazing! I'm sick (which gave me a little inspiration for this chapter), but I'm feeling a lot better! Sorry for the wait.

XXXX

"Thanks! I'll see you tonight!" Brooke smiled as she walked out the door of Karen's Café.

The cold air blew softly against Brooke's cheeks as she wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck. After a week of working at the café, Brooke was actually finding herself loving it. The customers all seemed to know her by name now, and Karen was really sweet. Her hot chocolate had even been called "delicious" by a couple of customers. Granted, they had been teenage boys who had become regulars since Brooke had started working, but it was still nice all the same.

"Hey pretty girl," she heard someone say as she tightened her coat around her. The night was the coldest one she had experienced in Tree Hill.

"Hey you," She giggled, gratefully taking Lucas' warm hand in her own. "How was your day?"

"Good, just hung out at the River court. There's a game tonight, if you want to see me play…" He trailed off suggestively.

"I would really like that, but I told Karen I would help her out at Tric tonight."

"But you've helped her out every night this week! I don't think she will mind if you take one night off." Lucas thought it was really sweet that Brooke kept volunteering to help his mom, but he had to admit he was jealous of the time he lost with her.

Brooke bit her lip, considering her options. It was true, she hadn't taken a night off since she had started working. But she liked working at the club. She had gotten to know Peyton pretty well and could see them becoming really good friends. She made a mental note to ignore the fact that she and Lucas had dated.

"I guess I can take one night off." She said lightly, as if she weren't that excited to spend the night with Lucas.

The truth was, she was finding herself thinking about him all the time. Whenever they weren't together, her mind brought her to him.

They had been spending every second together when she wasn't working. Hanging out at the café, going to Keith's Q-Zar, or simply taking walks together. It was simple, normal things, and very routine compared to what Brooke was used to. But, she found herself loving it.

Lucas grinned as Brooke called Karen and politely asked his mom for the night off. He loved spending time with Brooke, which was something foreign to him. He hadn't even been slightly interested in a girl in this way since Peyton, and that was when they were in high school. Their random hookups meant nothing to either of them.

However, the more time he spent with Brooke, the more he knew that he should step away. After all, she was going back to New York in a week. But he couldn't, and if he were honest with himself, it was because he wasn't trying all that hard to push her away.

"So," Brooke smiled, her dimples lighting up her face in the street light, "Are you any good at basketball? I mean, my neighbor, Nathan, plays and he's professional. So, if I'm comparing you to him, which I am because I've never seen anyone else play, you have some big shoes to fill.

Lucas laughed and squeezed her hand, "I think I will be okay. I could have played professionally but, ugh…there were some complications." Lucas didn't want to get into his HCM. There was no reason – she didn't need to know.

Before Brooke could catch on to his avoidance of the subject, Lucas continued. "Yeah, I've heard a little about that Nathan guy. Haley's been hanging out with him a lot. We have the same last name you know. Weird."

Brooke bit her lip, "Yeah that is weird. But you said that Haley and Nathan have been spending a lot of time together?" Brooke's red alert instantly went up. Not because she was jealous, but because she was nervous. From what Lucas had told her about Haley, she knew that she was the kind of girl who could fall for Nathan. Hell, any girl could fall for Nathan. The problem was getting him to fall back.

"Yeah, Haley's been talking about him everyday. I think they might have a thing. It's good for her, she hasn't dated much."

"Is Haley the kind of girl who has "flings"? Brooke wondered.

"No, not really. But, she knows that she is going to be coming back to Tree Hill, so I can't imagine her thinking that it is going to turn into something more. She's smart enough to guard her heart."

Brooke looked up at Lucas as he said this, evaluating his words. She was going back to New York. How smart was she? She hadn't been guarding her heart at all, not after that one night at the café where she had simply said something about not complicating things. But despite her early attempts, things were complicated. She found herself falling asleep at night wondering about Tree Hill's English program. When she caught herself with those thoughts, she quickly shook them away. But that pretending didn't erase the fact. The fact that she was falling in love for the first time, with a boy she ultimately couldn't have.

"Brooke?"

Brooke emerged from her thought to find that they had arrived Brooke took in her surroundings. The court was indeed, a River court, as it sat directly on a river. The lights form the boats were bright enough to light up the court just enough to play.

"This is my world." He smiled down at Brooke, who was letting herself pretend for one second that he was talking about her.

"It's beautiful Luke." She whispered before giving him a light kiss on the lips.

"Hey Luke!" Someone called out and Brooke pulled away.

"Hey Mouth." Lucas nodded to the guy who had spoken. Brooke remembered meeting him once at the club. Soon after, a few more guys showed up and they began a game. Brooke sat on the nearby picnic table with Mouth.

"So are you and Lucas dating?" Mouth asked.

Brooke opened her mouth to answer, but then realized she didn't really know. So she quickly made up something, "Here's my philosophy on dating. It's important to have somebody that can make you laugh, somebody you can trust, and somebody that, you know, turns you on... And it's really, really important that these three people don't know each other."

Mouth smiled, his mouth almost taking up his whole face, thus, Brooke figured his nickname. But it could have also come from his narrating of the game.

"Well, which one is Lucas."

Brooke bit her lip, "All of them." She wanted to say, but she didn't. "Oh, Lucas, he is my eye candy." Her smile was a little forced, but when she saw how her comment made Mouth a little uncomfortable, she laughed. Brooke Davis had been called bold since the day she was born.

The wind started to pick up after a while, and Brooke's jacket was of no help. She saw Lucas' sweatshirt off to the side and pulled it over her head. It was unbelievably warm and smelt just like him.

Lucas looked over at Brooke, who was chatting to Mouth, both of them smiling and laughing. He couldn't believe, how after just a few days, this girl had managed to make her way into the deepest parts of his heart. Was that even possible? Was this feeling of love really lust in disguise? He didn't know; all he knew was that he never wanted to feel any other way. As he noticed that she was wearing his sweatshirt, he smiled.

"You make that look really good." He smirked, walking up to Brooke, who was once again laughing at something Mouth said.

"Oh, I know." Brooke smirked back and added a wink.

"But how am I supposed to stay warm?"

At this, Brooke bit her lip and gave him her best seductive look, "I can think of something…"

Mouth rolled his eyes and hopped up off the bench to go and join the other guys.

As Brooke giggled, Lucas grabbed her hand, "Well, I'm very interested to know what you have in mind Brooke Davis."

XXXX

"I'm sick." Brooke mumbled into her phone, pulling her blankets up around her face. Her legs were achy and she could hardly breathe. Her throat was sore and her ears hurt. She knew she looked awful.

"What's the matter?" Lucas asked over the phone. He had left to go pick up breakfast.

"I'm sick." Brooke repeated, aggravated.

"I'm coming," Lucas responded quickly, hanging up the phone. He quickly replaced the donuts he had pulled out from the back of the café and heated up some soup.

Meanwhile, Brooke tried to sit up, but that only made the pounding in her head worse. "Ughh." She groaned aloud to herself. "This isn't happening."

"Brooke?" Lucas finally got back, and rushed over to her side. Even Brooke thought it was a little dramatic.

"I'm fine Lucas. Well, I'm not fine, but I'm not dying either." She almost laughed but it turned into a cough.

"I'm so sorry Brooke…" He said, placing a hand on her forehead. "God, you are burning up!"

"What are you doing?" Brooke said, trying hard to keep her eyes open.

"Calling my mom, she should have something to give you."

"Don't leave." She whispered, reaching her hand slowly out to find contact with Lucas. He took up her hand in his, and kissed her palm.

"Mom, hey…"

Brooke tried to stay awake to hear Lucas' conversation with Karen, but she dozed off.

XXXX

"Brooke, hunny?" A sweet, soft voice lulled Brooke out of her restless sleep.

"Mom?" Brooke mumbled, not really knowing where she was.

"No, it's Karen, Lucas' mom. I need to take your temperature."

Brooke nodded slowly, and opened her mouth for the thermometer.

"Oh wow. You have a temperature of 104 degrees. We need to get you to a doctor right now." Brooke could barely hear Karen, her voice sounded so far away.

"I don't think I can walk." Brooke whispered, even though Lucas was already lifting her up off the bed.

"Shh." Lucas soothed her, brushing the hair out of her face. "I've got you."

XXXX

Brooke slowly let her eyes flutter open. The room was bright and unfamiliar.

"Brooke?" She heard someone whisper. "How are you?"

She turned her head to find that it was Lucas who had been speaking.

"What…" She began, fully realizing that she was in the hospital.

"You have the flu. You needed to get some fluids pumped into you because you got dehydrated. The doctor said you should be able to go home today though. It's a twenty-four hour thing."

"The flu?" Brooke moaned, trying to turn on her side but felt the tugging of her IV in arm. How could she have gotten the flu? Brooke hadn't been sick for years. Now, all of a sudden, while she is on vacation, her body decides to rebel.

As she was thinking this, a realization hit. "Wait- why aren't you sick? Wouldn't I have given it to you-"

"I already had the flu shot." Lucas said, silently thanking his mother for dragging him to the doctor's. He remembered whining about how he was old enough to take care of himself. Apparently, he still needed his mom sometimes.

Brooke propped herself up on the bed and looked around the room. A small bundle of flowers were on the table next to her bed.

"Did you get me those?" She laughed and Lucas blushed.

"Pulled them from the neighbors yard." He admitted, laughing at himself.

Brooke sighed, "I can't believe I am in the hospital. A little dramatic, even for me." Being a drama queen had never bothered her before, but after seeing the way Haley lived, so simply, she found that she didn't always need all the attention.

"I don't mind taking care of you." Lucas admitted, blushing again.

Brooke bit her lip to keep a huge, girlish grin from spreading across her face. The things that Lucas said to her made her feel like there were ten thousand butterflies zooming around in her stomach.

However, at the same time, she also felt a drop in her stomach. It was almost time for her to leave. She couldn't let this go to far. Usually, dropping a guy wasn't a big deal to Brooke. After all, if there was one word any of her friends would use to describe her, besides sexy, would be independent. Brooke Davis didn't need a man to complete her. But as Lucas ran his fingers across Brooke's cheek, she knew that she didn't have to give up her independence to be with him. Lucas never tried to control her.

"I'm an English major." She suddenly said, sitting up some more. "I want to be a writer. Hopefully for Vogue or Vanity Fair. My favorite ice cream is Peppermint – you know the kind they only make during the holidays? I love the color pink, but my favorite color is really midnight blue. I hate people who borrow my books and dog ear the pages and I love it when there is heat lightening at night."

Lucas' eyes widened as Brooke finished her speech, which left her out of breath. "Brooke. Why are you telling-"

"I want to know everything about you and I want you to know everything about me." She finally let herself smile that girlish grin that made her feel so vulnerable.

"This could be risky." Lucas warned, secretly doing summersaults inside.

In an instant, Brooke's signature eyebrow raise appeared on her face along with a sly smirk. "I always like a little risk."