Hey guys. Thanks for the reviews. I am so sorry about the delay. I have been so busy with the University, so I didn't have time to write, besides, I have been struggling with writers block.

Chapter 5

Brooke looked at her ex husband, taking her son from him and hugging him tightly.

"Mommy, Mommy." said the kid.

"Hello, my precious, I have really missed you!"

"I miss you too." said the three year old, kissing his mother on the cheek.

Brooke put Stevie in the nursery.

"Here, baby, play with your toys. I will be here in a bit. I am just going to have a little conversation with Daddy, okay."

"Okay, Mommy."

Brooke left Stevie in the nursery and went back to the living room where Julian waited for her.

"Julian….what are you doing here?"

"I want you to come to me to LA and remarry me."

"Wait a minute….you flew all the way from California to Tree Hill to tell me to come with you to LA? You should have saved yourself the trip and remembered why we got divorced in the first place. I can't leave Tree Hill, my job is here, my friends are here…especially not now that Lucas needs me after Peyton's death."

"Yes, I heard about Peyton. My condolences about that. You know that I only allow you to visit Stevie, and I can take that from you. So, I am putting it this way, you either go with me to LA or you are never going to see him again."

"You son of a bitch! How stupid was I to get married to you in the first place? Why do you even want me there?"

"Because there was a scandal and I need something to fix it. You remarrying me would definitely prove that the rumors that I had been seen hooking up with a blonde drug dealer, named Jessica and being on drugs, untrue. Because, if these rumors are proven to be true, Stevie will be placed in the system, due to the fact that now he would have two unfit parents."

"Are these rumors true?"

"Yes, they are. Life in Hollywood is hard, so if you want to keep our son, you should help me."

"Help you?! I would much rather sue you for taking my son away from me in the first place!"

"You put his life in danger!"

"Okay, it was an accident and there wasn't a scratch on him, because I got him out of the house almost immediately after I woke up. I never would have forgiven myself if something bad had happened to him under my watch. And you…you are a drug addict!"

"Brooke….it was a one time thing. I am not even using anymore."

"Julian, I was married to you for a year. I know when you are lying. You are even high right now. If you were sober, you wouldn't have even considered coming here and asking me to remarry you. Marrying you was the biggest mistake in my entire life. And I am pretty sure that I can get a judge to side with me, when I tell him that you are a drug addict and a playboy. Get out of my house, and if you even consider taking Stevie with you, I will call the police."

"And tell them what exactly? That I am taking my son, of whom I legally have full custody of and my alcoholic ex wife doesn't want me to. Who do you think they are going to believe, Brooke? Me or you? And don't play innocent with me, I know that you are screwing Lucas, now that Peyton is out of the way." said Julian and punched Brooke, pushing her to the ground. Afterwards he went to the nursery picked up Stevie, who started crying the second his father had picked him up. "You have 12 hours to decide, what you want. I leave in the 9 o'clock flight out of here. If you are not there with me, I will know that you have chosen Lucas over your own son.""

Brooke sobbed as she watched how her ex husband was taking her crying three year old son from her again. She looked in the mirror – there was bruise forming on her cheek where her ex husband had hit her. Sighing, she started getting ready for work. She put some makeup on the bruise, put on her sunglasses and went out.

Lucas was awoken by his girls, who had barged in his room at 8 am looking for their toys When they couldn't find them they started jumping on their father's bed and saying:

"Daddy, Daddy, where are our toys?"

Lucas hugged his daughters and said:

"Well, don't you remember? You were punished for not listening to me."

"No, we weren't. Aunt Brooke took them away, nobody punished us."

"Okay, girls, how about this – no toys for two weeks."

"Two weeks? But Daddy, you never punish us."

"Well, there is a first time for everything. Girls, things have got to change now that your mother is gone. I am going to need you two to listen to me, okay? Like you listened to Mommy. I know you miss her, I miss her too, but we have to continue to be a family, right. Which means, that if you misbehave, I am going to have to punish you, that's what Mommy used to do right?"

The girls nodded and hugged their father.

" Daddy, can we go play with Jamie and Lydia today?"

"Well, yes sure, after breakfast."

Truth be told, Lucas wanted to talk to Nathan and Haley about the kiss that had happened last night and seek advice about what he should do about it, so he agreed to let his daughters play with Jamie and Lydia.

When they went to Nathan and Haley's house, the girls almost immediately went to the nursery to play with their cousins, and Lucas went to the kitchen.

"What's wrong?"asked Haley, noticing that something was bothering her best friend.

"Brooke and I kissed last night."

"What? " asked Nathan. "How did that happen?"

"Well, we talked and then I hugged her, and then one thing led to another and we kissed.'

"What kind of kiss was it?" asked Haley.

"It was passionate, it felt so wrong, yet it felt so right. For the first time since Peyton's death, I felt alive again. I felt like, I have never stopped loving Brooke. And in the same time, I feel like I am betraying my wife's memory and my kids."

"Luke…" said Haley. "Peyton would have wanted you to be happy and your kids love Brooke…the question you need to ask yourself is are you ready for a new relationship?"

"Honestly, I don't know….I still miss and love Peyton, and I always will, but in the same time I have these feelings for Brooke….I honestly don't know what to do. I really don't want Brooke to be my rebound….I don't even know if these feelings are real."

"Lucas, you and Brooke….you have known each other forever. You almost caught pneumonia proving your love to her. You wrote her letters. You decorated her locker. People were actually saying that you two were going to stay together forever. And you were happy together. Those feelings that you feel for her are real, they have always been real."

"Are you saying that I didn't love my wife?"

"You loved Peyton, but she was your damsel in distress. You had to be there for her, because she would have died a long time ago if you weren't there. You gave her kids, you gave her a family. But a lot of things came easy with Peyton, you never really had to fight for her, the way you had for Brooke. With Brooke, you had passion, danger, fire. But in order to regain her trust, you had to write her letters, decorate her locker and tell her that you love her in a pouring rain. Real love, isn't easy, Lucas, just look at me and Nathan. Love is filled with obstacles and it's messy and painful, but it is worth it. You've loved Brooke since you were in junior high and those feelings never went away. Brooke will never be your rebound, because you never stopped loving her. And she loves you back. And all you have to do to keep her is tell her that you love her. Do you want to give this thing with Brooke another shot?"

Lucas was still trying to assimilate what Haley just said:

"Yes I do."

"Then go and tell her! She is probably at the shop. We will watch the girls." said Haley.

Lucas nodded and went out of the house.

When Brooke arrived at the shop she was greeted by Millie.

"Hey, Millie. How are you?"

"I am fine. Marvin and I are celebrating our five year anniversary tomorrow."

"Has it really been five years? Congratulations." said Brooke, not really looking Millie in the eye.

"Thanks….but what is wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Said Brooke.

"No…something is definitely wrong…you are distant , and the only other time I have seen you wear glasses inside was when that guy broke into the store and beat you up."

Brooke took off her glasses and revealed the bruise on her cheek, that was caused by Julian.

"Oh my God! Brooke….what happened? Who did this?"

"Julian…."

Millie went to the door and changed the sign to "Closed", despite Brooke's protests, and quickly led Brooke to the back of the store, so that they could talk about this in private.

"That piece of garbage is back in the picture? What did he do?"

"Basically, he said that if I didn't go with him to LA and remarry him, I was never going to see Stevie again….I said no…and then he punched me….and said that he was leaving tonight with Stevie….he is on drugs, Millie. My baby is with a drug addict."

"We need to call the police." said Millie.

"No…I am afraid that we can't do that. I have to go with him. For my son's sake."

"But, Brooke…he hit you. For all you know he abuses Stevie too. You need to get rid of that bastard and get custody of your son."

"Julian will never let me do that. He is going to hold my breakdown as leverage and if I go to court with this, Stevie will go in the system." Said Brooke, no longer holding her tears.

"There has got to be a way out of this." Said Millie, trying to comfort her crying friend.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door on the store and a familiar voice said:

'Brooke, Millie? Are you here? Why does the sign say "Closed"?"

"Lucas….Tell him, I am not here. You can't tell him about this." Said Brooke.

'Why, what is going on?" said Millie.

"It's complicated." Said Brooke.

"How is it complicated?"
"Well, Lucas and I kissed last night and I am really not in a mood to deal with that right now. Tell him I am not here." Said Brooke.

"What? You and Lucas? Again?"
"No. Yes. I don't know. I am not sure. One thing I am sure about is that he is going to freak out if he figures out that Julian is practically forcing me to go to LA with him and he has a lot to deal with right now. I don't want to add to his problems. Get rid of him for now."

Millie looked at her friend in shock and nodded. She went to the front of the store and opened the door for Lucas.

"Hey, Luke. I am so sorry it took me so long to come here, I am doing inventory so the store is closed for the day." Said Millie.

"Is Brooke here?"

"No, no, I haven't seen her all day. I don't think she will be coming in today."

Lucas looked at her suspiciously.

"You know, Millie, you are a bad liar. I need to see her now and I know she is here."

'Lucas…"

"Let him in, Millie." Said Brooke. "It's okay."
"Brooke, what happened to you?" said Lucas after he saw the bruise on her cheek. "Who did this to you?"

"It doesn't matter." Said Brooke. "What are you doing here?"
"It matters to me!"

'It really shouldn't matter to you. The only things that should matter to you are your kids. Not me not anyone else."

"Brooke…."
"No, what happened last night can never happen again. Lucas, I told you last night. That was a moment of weakness. This….us…it never works out. We tried two times already and we broke up. We can't do this now. Things can't be like they were when were in high school. We are adults with children now, Luke."

"But…Brooke….I love you."

"I know you do, Lucas. And I love you too, Luke. But you see, with us, love is never enough. Our relationships always end in tears, which was fine, when we were in high school and we can't do that anymore. Our children need stability and let's face it, you and I, we are not stable. We never were. And you may think that this time it will be different, but it won't be. Do you want to know why? Because, as much as you love me, you will always love Peyton more, because Peyton will always be the love of your life and she is dead. And right now, you want to use me to fill the void that she left in your heart, so that you won't have to deal with it, but one day you will wake up an you will realize that I am not enough for you, because I will never be able to replace Peyton and it will all come crashing down. You need to think about your kids. And I need to think about my son. Which is why I am leaving for LA tonight at 9 pm."

"What?" asked Lucas and Millie in one voice.

"I have to go back to LA to Julian, to Stevie. I am going home to pack right now."

"Brooke…you can't just leave….."

"It's for the best. I will always love you, Lucas. I guess…people that are meant to be together, don't always get together in the end." said Brooke and kissed Lucas on the cheek. Millie, you have been a great friend."

"Brooke, you can't go with him."

"I don't have choice, Millie." said Brooke and left, closing the door behind her.

Okay, this is chapter five. So, again, I am so sorry for not updating. Soo, Julian is a complete douche bag in this story. Sorry for that too, he seemed a lot OOC, and I actually liked his character, but I think that by making him an actual drug addict, Brooke can get sole custody of her son, besides, drugs change a person…right? Don't worry, I will update as soon as I finish the next chapter, which will probably be somewhere in the end of June. Like I said I am really busy with exams. So, I think that maybe the next chapter will be the last one. I am thinking about a happy Brucas ending, but I am still working on it.

See you then!