A/N- Things to remember while reading: there is no Nathan/Brooke sex tape, never happened as far as my story is concerned so that big fight between Brooke and Peyton never happened. Personally, I think the writers did that to give Peyton equal footing against Brooke. Also, Psycho Derek does not return. Other than that, happy reading and thank you for the reviews!


She comes to him at two in the morning, slinking in quietly through his bedroom door. The clicking of the door closing slowly wakes him up and makes him both terrified that his mother is asleep in the room next door and grateful that his room has its own private door to the outside. She crawls in under the covers beside him and his arms wrap instinctively around her, pulling her close. She burrows into his chest, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. He does not want to puncture this moment with anything stupid that he might say, for he was the king of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, so he just kisses her forehead and stays quiet. He doesn't need to know why she's here because she's here and that's what matters.

"I'm sorry for waking you up." She whispers. Her warm breath tickles his neck.

"I'm not complaining." He whispers back.

"I'm scared, Lucas." She says. He wants to tell her she is the bravest person he knows but bites his tongue because he has to admit that everyone is allowed to be scared sometimes and though she may seem otherworldly sometimes, she is human. And he loves seeing her vulnerable, as he'd once told her long ago.

"What are you scared of, pretty girl?" He asks her, reaching for her hand under the covers.

"What if this is how things are going to be from now on? What if things don't work out?" She doesn't have to explain for him to understand. It had been two months since the Ravens won the state championship, which meant that graduation was a month away. In those two months Brooke Davis had changed quite a bit. There wasn't anything different in her routine. She went to school, went to practice, and went home. It was all very monotonous. That in itself was a change, the fact that she had a set routine and never did anything to break it up anymore. But the real changes could only be seen in watching her carefully.

She didn't stop in the hallway to chat between classes. She rarely spoke to anyone other than Haley. There was a quiet sorrow about her. There was no permanent frown; no silent loathing like there had been with Peyton over the last two months. There was an emptiness that hadn't been there before. No one whispered about her anymore because she gave them nothing to whisper about. The sparkle and the shimmer that had made her who she was had seemingly disappeared.

He'd tried talking to her once; it had taken him two weeks to work up the nerve. He'd stopped by her locker and asked her about her day. She didn't even look at him as she answered 'Fine' and walked away. She hadn't come as off as angry, just blank. Blank was the last word he'd ever expected to associate with Brooke Davis. After that day it became increasingly difficult to reach out to her. It seemed as if they parted ways and it had become difficult to not only talk to her but to even talk about her. He didn't ask Haley about her and Haley seemed to know not to bring her up.

He and Peyton are still friends, but it's not the same. There is a bitter taste in his mouth every time he speaks to her and he goes silent any time he is with Peyton and Brooke walks past them. He doesn't blame Peyton, per se. But there is a soft anger underneath everything that he can't help but feel. He doesn't let it show because he knows she cannot help the way she had felt, but he also cannot help but wish she'd kept her feelings to herself. She's having a rough time in dealing with missing her brother and missing both her moms and it feels familiar to be there to save her, so that's what he does. He stays by Peyton.

The day that he hears that Chase Adams asked to Brooke to the prom and she'd said yes is the day he is brought to reality. She was not quietly pining over him and waiting to see if he'd run to Peyton if she stayed away, she was quietly moving on with her life. She was taking time to herself to be okay and then she moved on.

The day he hears that Chase Adams asked Brooke out on a real date and she said yes he goes home and repaints his bedroom door red. He hopes that she sees it whenever she drives by on her way home.

He moves back a little so he can get a good look at her. It's dark, but his eyes have adjusted and he can see her pretty well. She looks a little embarrassed, which is a nice change from the usual muted, passive expression she'd been wearing over the last couple of months. She smiles a little and tilts her head up. His heart skips a beat as she brings her lips to his cheek. It's not even a full kiss; just a brush of her mouth against his cheek but it immediately awakens a feeling that seems old and ancient at this point.

"I think you're going to be alright. I think you'll leave here and go on to do big things. The world is going to fall in love with you, Brooke Davis." He says tapping the end of her cute, little nose with his fingertip. She scrunches her nose up in that adorable way that garnered her the nickname Tigger back in elementary school.

"Thank you." She whispers, and for the first time in months she's not only smiling with her mouth but also with her eyes. "But I'm not as together as you may think. I haven't even bought a dress for prom yet." She adds.

"Why not?" He does his best not to ask about Chase.

Her face goes sour, dark. And then, just suddenly as her expression changed it changed again and she looks sad. Her eyes are shining, glazed over with fresh tears that are seconds away from falling. "Peyton and I promised each other when we were nine that we'd go dress shopping together. I haven't been able to bring myself to go without her."

He thinks that this is probably not the time to mention that Peyton had told him earlier that day that she'd bought her prom dress a few days ago. He knew at the time that she was dropping a major hint that she wanted him to ask her. He also thinks this is probably not the time to mention that he had been in fact considering asking her.

As if she'd read his mind, she says, "It's okay if you go to prom with Peyton. I know neither of you have dates and it's in a week so the pickings are slim anyway. You should ask her. No one should go alone if they don't have to."

He doesn't know what to say so he just nods his head in agreement. She moves closer to him, her body pressing entirely against his own now. He takes a deep breath, wishing that he could willfully turn off every nerve in his body. She's watching his face carefully, clearly looking for something in his eyes. She bites down on her bottom lip, a nervous habit that he'd always found so endearing. Whatever she'd been looking for, he guesses that she's found it because this time when she tilts her head back she lets her mouth brush against his mouth instead of his cheek.

"Brooke, I don't want you to do anything you'll regret." He says, even though he really, really hopes that she stays the night.

"Lucas, I don't want you to talk for the next couple of hours unless it's to say my name in my ear." It is all she has to say before he's got both their clothes off. He's kissing her like he hasn't seen her in years and they're moving in perfect harmony. She feels amazing and he swears that this is what it's really supposed to be like when two people want to be together. She bites and he pulls, she quietly laughs that low, raspy laugh of hers and her fingers grab at his hair while his can't seem to stop moving. His toes curl as she pulls him closer, begs him to go faster. He does as she asks; he'd give her anything and everything that she asked for. She's practically purring in his ear with delight and a feeling of euphoria washes over them both.

They fall asleep facing each other. She leaves as silently and as suddenly as she came.


He asks Peyton to prom and he's pretty sure that she's never looked so elated. He makes a joke about how he didn't think that Peyton Sawyer of all people would be so into going to the prom. She rolls her eyes in response but he knows that she's secretly thrilled that he'd asked. This thought just makes him sad. She's thrilled for all the wrong reasons and he asked her for all the wrong reasons.

He doesn't tell her that he'd had sex with Brooke a few days ago. He'd woken up to a bed without Brooke in it and a note next to him.

Thank you.

A measly two words are all that she leaves him with and he's left uncertain of how she'll be when he sees her at school. She looks a little brighter, there's more of a spring in her step. She waves hello to him as she passes him by at his locker but walks past him without stopping. He takes it as a personal victory.

Peyton looks beautiful when he picks her up before the prom. She mentions that its not the dress she'd wanted. He tells her it looks lovely on her, she looks great in white.

"I was sort of hoping for a red dress but I saw Brooke leave the store with a red one so I figured I'd pick something else." He senses an awkward shift in conversation but before he can change the subject she says, "I really miss her."

"Me too." It slips out before he can stop it, but she doesn't look sad. She nods her head in understanding and then heads for the car.

It's pretty packed when they arrive but he still manages to spot her seconds after entering the room. She's standing off to the side with Chase, not looking terribly excited but happy nonetheless. Chase on the other hand is looking at her like he's won the lottery. Lucas is annoyed because he's sure Chase doesn't realize that he's won something way better.

She looks up at that exact moment but does not look at him. He follows her gaze to see that she is looking at Peyton, who looks nervous, but is not breaking eye contact. Brooke turns to say something to Chase before she makes her way over to the two of them.

"You look beautiful, Pey." She says, almost shyly.

"Look who's talking." Says Peyton, eying Brooke's dress. Lucas cannot disagree. Red is most definitely Brooke's color and this dress is no exception. She is stunning and he is reminded, and painfully so, that it really sucks that she is not his date tonight. She excuses herself saying she needs to get back to her date.

"You ever going to talk to her about how you feel?" Lucas asks Peyton once Brooke is out of earshot.

"I think the time has passed for that." She says sadly.

The day Peyton finally does talk to Brooke about how she feels certainly comes as a surprise. They are halfway into summer when they spot Brooke sitting on the beach by herself. She hears them coming and looks up, her expression changing from peaceful to all knowing.

"Beautiful night for a romantic walk on the beach, I see." She is teasing, but there is a little bite to her words.

"I actually asked him to go for a walk so we could talk about you. But here you are." Peyton says before Lucas can get a word in.

"Here I am." Brooke repeats before turning back to look at the waves. The tide is high and the waves are crashing louder than usual that night.

"So how about that romantic walk on the beach?" Peyton asks, only she's talking to Brooke and not to Lucas. Brooke stands up wordlessly and the two walk off leaving him to sit exactly where Brooke had been sitting before. He knows that things have permanently changed between them and those changes cannot be undone in one walk on the beach. But he hopes that this walk leads to others.

Things are not exactly back to normal after this point. Peyton tells him that Brooke told her she'd never gone on a second date with Chase. She also tells him that Brooke said that she'd buried the hatchet between them the day of the state championship.

"She says she's forgiven everyone."

Lucas only then understands that forgiving does not mean forgetting and that Brooke will never forget what has happened this year. Peyton will never forget that Brooke ended their friendship in the midst of one of the roughest times in her life. Brooke would never forget how much betrayal stings. Lucas would never forget either of them.

The next time he sees her after that night on the beach is a cool summer's night that came after a particularly scorching hot summer's day. This time it is six in the evening, not two in the morning and she knocks instead of just coming in. She hands him a piece of paper with an address on it.

"I hope you'll write me from college. I hope you'll write me wherever you are, whenever you can." She says without coming inside.

He looks at the address for a moment. Then he looks at her. She's got her mouth slightly open as if there's more she'd like to say. She closes it and smiles, her dimples deepening slightly. He sees the ghost of a party girl in her eyes, knows instantly that she is excited to be leaving Tree Hill, she is ecstatic at starting a new adventure. He remembers a little firecracker of a girl who had enticed him and changed his life entirely. She'd lit up his life and made everything seem rosy and lovely. She'd taught him that love hurts and losing love hurts even more than that and she'd taught him that sometimes you couldn't wrap everything up nicely and neatly. He glances at the address quickly again. He thinks about writing her.

"There are eighty-two letters in here, and they're all addressed to you."