Chapter 2:

After Julian had left a speechless Brooke admiring his retreating figure, Haley grabbed Brooke's hand excitedly. "Brooke, Atlas Shrugged is a great book! If you're not going to read it, I'd love to read it again." Brooke immediately began laughing, "Tutor mom! An amazingly hot, slightly pervy, extremely sexy guy just attempted to pick me up with a BOOK and all your comments concern… the BOOK?!"

Haley laughed and covered her face with her hands, "You're right! I'm an old married woman." Haley looked up at Brooke with a wink and a sly grin of her own, "and I didn't even appreciate the hot single guy with dark brown eyes and a killer grin." Brooke dropped her mouth and swatted at Haley as she sat down to join her friend on the floor, but she lost her footing when Haley sighed, "and broad shoulders and did you see that ass?!"

Brooke's eyes widened and she shrieked, "Haley James Scott – almost no-longer-Scott one too many times!" Brooke grabbed Haley's left hand and held it up between them to showcase Haley's wedding band. Brooke hissed, "You're married for G-d's sake!" But Brooke quickly grinned and teased her friend, "leave some for the rest of us would you?"

Haley grabbed the book from Brooke, "So… are you going to call Julian?" Brooke looked at Haley and groaned, Haley was loving this entire situation. Brooke made an indignant snort, "I am Brooke Penelope Davis. I do NOT call boys for a first date. He made a fatal error in judgment." With that, Brooke closed the cover of the book and placed it on the shelf. Haley grabbed the book, "Brooke! The book is paid for, if you're not going to keep it then I will!"

Twenty minutes later, Brooke and Haley were on the beach waving to the small group of people waiting for them. Haley's son, Jamie, ran to meet them hugging both women and getting them wet. "Mama, Aunt Brooke what took you so long and where is everything?" Brooke looked at her godson with confusion, "Everything?" Jamie looked up at her with the innocence of a five year old, "Daddy and Uncle Lucas said that you'd have a U-Haul full of stuff by now."

Haley snorted with laughter and pointed at Brooke as Brooke shouted, "I didn't even buy anything! We were at a freaking book store!" She mumbled to Haley, "You're the indecisive one drowning with a library's worth of books and I'm the one that takes the fall?"

Haley's husband, Nathan, jogs up to them and loudly asks, "Seriously ladies what took so long? I can only take so much of the Peyton and Lucas reunion mush." Lucas and Peyton broke from their embrace and Lucas shouted, "We heard that!" while Peyton laughed into his chest. "I meant you to! Get a room there are impressionable children around here." Nathan shouted back to his slightly older brother with a good-natured grin.

"I hope you're not including me in the impressionable children category Mr. Scott." Brooke's foster daughter, Samantha, lightly tapped Nathan's shoulder as she joined the group and hugged Brooke. Brooke turned to Samantha with an inquiring look, "Spill it Sam, you don't just start hugging without ulterior motives." Haley, Nathan, and Jamie backed away when they saw Samantha's pleading glances.

Samantha gave a deep sigh and said with dripping sarcasm, "Well, as much as I love to hang out with your wonderful friends, my more wonderful friends are up the beach celebrating. Can I ditch you losers for a few?" Brooke decided to make her sweat it out for a minute and simply raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips together. When she tilted her head, Samantha started bargaining, "Begging is so beneath me, but Mr. Scott is right I think I'll choke on my own vomit if I stay here around the lovebirds," she nodded in Lucas and Peyton's direction. "So I'll do laundry, I'll cook, I'll clean, I'll wash your car, I'll…" Brooke's laughter cut her off and Samantha narrowed her eyes at Brooke, "cut your hair while you're sleeping."

"Fine, go! But, Sam be back here in an hour. I don't want to form a search party or unleash the Scott boys on you." Brooke relented and was rewarded with a big smile from Samantha before she said goodbye to everyone and dashed off down the beach.

Brooke rejoined the group just in time to see Haley pull out the book from earlier. Peyton took the book from Haley and read the back cover when Lucas saw the front cover, "Great book Haley! But, I know you've read this before. Why did you get another copy?" Before Brooke or Haley could explain, Peyton shrieked "I bet her old copy didn't have a phone number in it!" and held the opened cover up for the others to see. Haley blushed and shook her head and started saying, "No, no, no, no! Brooke! Ask Brooke!" as the others laughed. Nathan cleared his throat and asked his wife, "Haley, is there something you'd like to tell your husband?"

Haley looked at Nathan with a mortified expression that completely relaxed when she saw his loving eyes and laughing face. She hit him in the shoulder and playfully asked, "You know you could pretend to be jealous. Is it so hard to believe the number would be intended for me?" Nathan hugged her close to him and kissed his wife, "I have no doubt the number was intended for you. Hell, there are probably phone numbers in all of your books." Peyton spoke up, "Maybe that's why she has so many!" Everyone laughed and Haley whispered in Nathan's ear, "The only number I need is right here," and she placed his hand on the small of her back over her tattoo of his jersey number.

Brooke was laughing as she watched her four closest friends kiss and laugh. She snuggled closer to her godson, "Geez… is it always like this?" Jamie's eyes shone in the moonlight and said "I wish it will always be just like this." Brooke ruffled the young boy's hair as he looked back over at his parents with a huge smile. Brooke could see Jamie was happy his parents were back together and the talks of divorce were behind them.

Brooke's quiet reflection was broken when Nathan threw a marshmallow at her and said, "So Davis, you want to explain the book's number?" She looked to see five pairs of eyes eagerly looking at her for an entertaining tale.

Brooke grinned and said in utter confidence, "I'm fabulous, don't you know?" Her friends laughed and groaned at her avoidance and quickly turned to Haley for the scoop on the number. Haley shook her head and said, "I was just an innocent bystander. This is really Brooke's story to tell… but I will say hot! I mean, not hotter than you honey." Haley said as she patted Nathan's cheek. Nathan chuckled and whispered something in Haley's ear that led to a kiss between the two.

Brooke looked down at Jamie and said, "Hey kid… how about you spending the night with Aunt Brooke and Sam tonight?"

The following morning Samantha woke up to a pair of blue eyes staring at her from the side of her bed. She sighed, "Jamie… you're freaking me out little man. I thought Brooke showed you how to work the TV for when you're the first one up." Jamie shook his head and looked at her intently, "You sound like a drunken sailor when you're sleeping." Samantha laughed "Where did you hear that?!" Jamie shrugged, "Daddy says that about Nanny Deb when she's sleeping after being out with Uncle Skillz." Samantha just shook her head and let Jamie jump onto her back and carried him into the kitchen to look for Brooke.

Brooke was dressed and cooking breakfast when the two entered. She smiled at Sam and Jamie, "Good morning sleepy heads! We've got bacon, eggs, and toast." She placed a cup of coffee and milk in front of Jamie and Sam, "Unfortunately, I've got to head to the store in just a minute. Haley is going to come by in an hour to pick up Jamie. So Sam, you're officially free the rest of the afternoon. Whatever will you do with your time?" Brooke made a fake shocked face and laughed as she left the kitchen.

Jamie looked up as Sam dumped teaspoon after teaspoon into her coffee mug. "Sam, do you want to come swim at my house?" Samantha closed her eyes for a second then threw an arm around Jamie's small shoulders, "I thought you'd never ask! Of course, I'd love to come and swim with you." Samantha went to her room to change and couldn't believe how much her life had changed in the few months since she moved in with Brooke. "Who would have thought her best friend would be a five year old?" she laughed to herself.

Brooke sat in the store listening to the radio, and tried to come up with some inspiration for her new line. After she relinquished her shares of her company to her mother, she was starting a fresh new clothing line. Samantha had helped Brooke heal from a violent attack and given her a new fashion perspective… she was a bit of a muse for Brooke. She looked at a picture of Samantha backstage at a recent concert and smiled. She grabbed a pencil and started drawing. She was deep in her creative groove and didn't hear the door open.

She was startled and jumped when she heard a man clear his throat in front of her. Her eyes widened in surprise, "How the hell did you find me?" she meant to only say it to herself, but realized she said it out loud. She quickly followed it up with a more ambivalent tone, "Now you really did turn all psycho-stalker on me didn't you? Be careful, I need a new target for shooting practice." She had crossed her arms in front of her chest and tilted her head up to meet his grin and gaze.

Julian gave a small laugh, "Nice to see you again Brooke." Brooke couldn't help but love the way he said her name, it wasn't drawled out, but it wasn't abrupt, it was simply sexy.

Brooke lifted an eyebrow and asked, "Seriously, Julian. What are you doing here?" Julian's grin grew wider, "You remembered my name. I must have made an impression." Julian leaned over Brooke's drafting table so that he was close enough she could smell his cologne. Brooke made an internal pact not to show weakness or that she was falling for his charm, "Psycho stalkers normally do. I had to remember the name for the restraining order."

Julian ducked his head and she instantly regretted saying anything that would cause him to break eye contact. He looked back at her with a little less confidence, "Ouch… and I thought your friend calling me a pervert was bad." Brooke rolled her eyes and said, "How about you explain what you're doing here before you freak me out?"

Julian laughed at her and his face showed his relief, "I'll tell you all about how I found you and about myself over coffee." Brooke shook her head no, "I'm sorry, Julian, and as curious as I am I can't leave the store right now." Julian lifted an eyebrow at her as he surveyed the half empty non-functioning "store" and compromised, "Ok… well, how do you like your coffee?"

Julian returned with Brooke's coffee and some muffins a few minutes later. Brooke sat down with him and waited for Julian to begin his story. He explained how he recognized her from magazines, she is Brooke freaking Davis after all. He knew she was the head of Clothes Over Bros and he figured he would start here, because he had a pretty good suspicion she would not use the phone number he had so boldly given her (even if she secretly and desperately wanted to).

After an hour of back and forth conversation, Julian watched Brooke sip from her coffee and smiled. He glanced at his watch and sighed, "Brooke, I've really enjoyed talking to you, but I have to get to work." As Julian stood he said, "I really hope that you'll agree to a second date." Brooke sputtered the cool coffee and almost dropped her cup onto the table, "Second date?! What… you thought this was a first date?!"

Julian laughed and shrugged, "I paid for the coffee and don't' forget the muffins." He gave her his now infamous grin, "Besides Brooke, I don't kiss on first dates. So this," he gestured to the empty coffee cups and muffin remains, "most certainly is our first date, because I can't wait to kiss you tonight on our second date."