A/N: Hey everyone. Just wanted to say that I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but there are some necessary things that have to be said, so this has those plus some extra stuff as a filler so it is appropriate chapter length. So, read and I hope you enjoy!

Swish.

Her heart jumped to her throat, but she bit her lip regretfully when she realized it was only the trees surrounding the small court.

Brooke was still blindfolded. She had just shot, but Rachel hadn't said anything, nor did the sound of the basket betray any secrets. All she heard was the gentle whisper of the wind, the sound of the ball bouncing once, and then…nothing. Just calm and her own breathing.

She waited in an anxious but nonchalant silence. She wasn't supposed to care. Her and Lucas finished in high school. There was nothing more, and for her to want something more when Peyton did as well would be selfish. In a nutshell, she couldn't care.

But she did.

She felt the ball put back in her hands.

"Shoot again." Rachel said quietly. Brooke put the ball up, and she felt it leave her 

hands, but she didn't hear anything again. Then the ball was handed to her again. "Shoot again." Rachel's voice was unusually quiet. Unnaturally quiet.

"Rachel, it doesn't matter. I--" Brooke started to protest, but Rachel interrupted her.

"Shoot. Just one more time. I just wanna see something."

Brooke let an irritated sigh escape from her lips; maybe she hadn't made it at all, and Rachel was just waiting until Brooke made it. But she still shot again, still hearing nothing.

"Ok, then," Rachel said, still not allowing her voice to betray any secrets. "Go ahead."

Brooke ripped the blindfold off quickly, eagerly glancing to the basket as if it would tell her that she was meant to be with Lucas. Unsurprisingly, it revealed nothing, so she looked at Rachel. "What happened?" Her excitement bled out of her at the sight of Rachel's impassive face.

"Well," Rachel took a deep breath, "you made it."

Brooke could have jumped, but once again, the reality of everything this meant hit her once again. "Rachel, it doesn't mean anything. It was just luck. Just because Lucas says I was the one doesn't mean he was telling the truth. He and Peyton were together not too long after that, maybe…" She shrugged when she realized she was rambling.

Rachel threw the basketball across the court. "God Dammit, Brooke!" The 

ball bounced away, abandoned in the tension. Rachel let loose a small scream of frustration, rubbing her face as she walked away from Brooke across the court. "What the hell happened to you? Are you that afraid of getting your heart broken again that you can't even do something like this?" Rachel whirled and quickly advanced to a taken aback Brooke.

She gritted her teeth and bent closer to Brooke's face, speaking dangerously. "You made the shot three damn times in a row, without even hitting the backboard or rim. Give in already. Lucas may not have meant it that night, although I think he did, but somewhere deep down he confirmed it, whether he wanted to or not. He was in love with you, and from what I can see he still is, and he always will be, whether he knows it or not."

Brooke shook her head in denial.

"Brooke, what about everything he said while you were together. What about the, "Your the one"s and the "I love you,"s, huh? What about that night in the rain you told me about?" Rachel was getting to her now; she could tell by the look on Brooke's face. "That stuff doesn't just vanish, Brooke, especially with someone like Lucas. Maybe he buried it, but it will always be there. He just chose to realize it, to act on it, now. So what are you going to do?" She finished her tirade with a questioning raise of her eyebrows, and Brooke said nothing.

"Guess what, momma?" Jamie asked from the backseat of Lucas's mustang. 

Nathan and Jamie sat in the backseat, and Haley rode next to Lucas in the front. They were all on their way back from lunch, to celebrate Nathan and Haley's homecoming.

"What?" Haley asked absently.

"I got Uncle Lucas to come over, like you told me to!"

Lucas glanced at his nephew in the rear-view mirror as Haley looked nervously over at Lucas. "What do you mean, you got me to come over?"

"Um, Lucas…" Haley said, trying to hide a smile. "What did Jamie tell you?"

"Jamie just told me that he was being bad and that I should come over to teach him a lesson," said Lucas simply.

"He did? Wow, my son's genius!" Nathan laughed, and he proudly ruffled Jamie's hair. Jamie looked very pleased.

"Hales, what where you trying to do? What did you tell Jamie?"

Haley grinned and bit her lip, facing away from Lucas. "Uh, nothing, Luke. We just wanted you to come over some more while we were away."

Lucas rolled his eyes and laughed. "For Brooke?"

Haley's barely concealed smile and Nathan's laughter confirmed his answer. "You know, I'm not sure if I can trust you three anymore! Hales, you're like an evil genius."

Haley didn't say anything for the rest of the ride home, but Nathan caught her 

satisfied smile every few minutes. She obviously delighted in her new nickname.

"So you two set that whole thing up, with Brooke babysitting and everything?"

Lucas and Nathan stood at the counter in the Naley house, while Haley sat with Jamie on the couch. They four had just gotten home from lunch.

Nathan laughed. "Don't look at me, man. It's my evil-genius wife and our son. They're the brains of the operation."

Lucas echoed his laugh. "Well, thanks, little brother. I meant a lot for you to do that."

"No problem." They paused for along moment, watching the two on the couch.

"So, you happy to be home?"

"Yeah. London was great, but we missed Jamie so much. Although, he seems more excited at the possibility that you and Brooke may be together than of us coming home," Nathan added, laughing again. Lucas joined him.

"Well, I think I'm going to get now. You two probably want to relax." As Lucas said this, Haley rose from the couch.

"Ok, Luke, thanks again for staying with him. And if you see Brooke at all, tell her to come over, I haven't seen her yet." Haley shrugged, obviously missing her friend. But it was true. Brooke had steered clear of the house since yesterday, knowing that Lucas would probably be there.



"She's probably at the boutique; why don't you go visit her later?"

"Yeah, Momma!" Jamie cheered.

"Ok, Jamie," Haley smiled and ruffled his hair lightly and gave Lucas a hug before he left.

It was almost the afternoon by the time Karen woke up. Or, rather, by the time Lily came running up to the bed, yelling for her mom to get up as she did most days.

"Wake up, Mom!"

"Alright, alright…" Karen murmured sleepily, then rolled over. "Five more minutes…"

"Mom!"

"Ok, I'm up," Karen laughed, sitting up in bed as Andy came around the corner. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Who is it now?" Karen asked aloud, a slight confusion overshadowing her happiness, and it was easily recognized by Andy and even Lily. Karen leaned, intending to look around Andy to the closed front door, as if trying to see through it.

"I'll get it!" Lily offered, already taking off.

"Hold on, there," Andy said, grabbing Lily around the waist much like Lucas had done with Jamie a couple nights ago. "Maybe we should let your mom get this." Karen nodded her thanks before getting up and slipping a robe on and going to the door.

"Hello?" Her face fell when she saw who was standing there. "You don't need to be here; in fact, leave before I call the cops and send you back to jail." Karen's voice had a tone of menace to it that even Dan was taken aback at.



"Karen, I just want to get to know my niece," Dan said with a nasty undertone, much subtler than Karen's but just as dangerous.

"Dan, Karen's right; leave." Andy appeared at Karen's shoulder, surprising Dan.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite New Zealander, Randy! Step out, you're not even related to them."

"I'm a helluva lot closer to them than you are, Dan," Andi said, stepping forward in front of Karen protectively. Dan ignored him.

"Look, Karen, I just want to meet my niece: you let Keith meet his nephew…" Dan threw that in their faces because he knew how it would sting. Yeah, he felt remorse for what he had done, and he would take it back if possible. But he wanted to know Lily, and he also knew how it would affect Karen and even Andy. He would do whatever it took to know his niece.

Karen took a threatening step forward, fire in her eyes, but Andy held her back. Dan nodded at him.

"Good idea, Hargrove. And Karen, I'm going to be in her life." He turned to leave on that note, only to find himself face to face with Lucas. Luke wasn't smiling.

"Get the hell out of here, Dan."

"Well, Lucas, I figured you'd be bedding up with your newest girl— who is it this week? Lindsey? Peyton? Brooke?"

"Dan—" that was Andy. Lucas glanced towards him, breaking his eye-contact with Dan for a brief second, but Lucas showed no signs of happiness to see him, not even recognition.

"Dan, I want you to leave my family alone."

Dan leaned forward. "I am your family."



That was when Lucas punched him. He didn't know what had possessed him to do it, but by the time Lucas had even realized what happened, Dan was on the floor. He was shocked, most likely mirroring the image on Lucas's face. But Lucas knew that the shock on his own face was quickly bleeding out, being replaced with anger that had been there a second before. Lucas leaned down.

"Stay away from all of them. Lily, my mom, Brooke, everyone."

Dan jerked up, brushing himself off. Lucas stared him down the entire time, ignoring the couple in the doorway. Dan straightened his jacket, glaring at Lucas. But in a second his face changed, changed to a sly, cunning look that had been on his face too often in Lucas's high school years.

"Brooke, huh?" Lucas stomach dropped, but he refused to show his fear.

"I want you to stay away from everyone."

"Huh. I'll go Lucas, but just remember: Lily isn't the only person who will be seeing more of me."

Dan nodded to Lucas, Karen, and Andy, and stepped off the porch, a new spring in his step that Lucas didn't like.

"Do you think we should get back to the boutique soon?" Rachel asked Brooke.

The two sat on the Rivercourt, eating the breakfast that Rachel had thrown in the car before they left Brooke's house. After Rachel's tirade, Brooke had shaken her head in the face of Rachel's question.

"So, what are you going to do?" The question hung in the almost tangible air as Rachel stared Brooke down. But then, Brooke returned the glare and Rachel could see Brooke's muscles stiffen, as if she was about to punch the red-head.

"Huh. So there's actually a person in there," Rachel said with a satisfied smirk. "Now that we've gotten past that, how about you tell me your next move?"

Brooke shook her haad, resigning herself to the fact that Rachel hadn't changed 

since high school, nor was she going to give up. "I'm going to keep going, doing what I've been doing for the past four and a half months— just living. Lucas can do what he wants."

Rachel nodded, surprising Brooke by accepting the plan. "Alright. But don't think that nothing is going to come of this, Brooke…"

After that, Rachel had gone and gotten the food, and they hadn't said another word on the subject of Lucas and Brooke.

Until now.

"So, how was the kiss?"

"How'd you know about that?" Brooke asked sharply, instantly becoming alert. But a hidden smile played on her lips.

"Nothing gets by me, Davis," Rachel said with a challenging look. Brooke threw the basketball at her. Rachel ducked, then came back up with a rueful glare. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the basketball. "Except for that."

Brooke laughed. "But how did you know about the kiss?"

"Truthfully, I didn't. I just keep throwing stuff out there until you react to it, and then I know I hit the mark. You're so easy to read, Brooke."

"Says the girl who has never read a book in her life."

"You're one to talk." Broke gave her a glare, and Rachel returned it before falling silent. But she spoke up once more.

"Brooke, I think that everything will be fine. With Lucas, I mean." For once, Rachel's face was serious, and she tried to assure Brooke. Brooke just swallowed and focused on the basket above them.

"I think we should get back to the boutique now."

Haley and Jamie headed to the front door. "Alright, Nate, Jamie and I are going to go find Brooke and hear her side of things."



"Can we get an ice cream on the way?" Jamie asked.

"Well, how many did you have while we were away?" Nathan countered, walking up behind the pair.

"Uh, none," said Jamie innocently. He ran out the front door before
Nathan or Haley could question him again. In the calm, Nathan wrapped his arms around Haley.

"Hales, I'm so glad we went to London," He said, resting his chin on her head the same way he used to in high school. She closed her eyes and laid her head against his chest. The late afternoon sun filtered through the window, casting a soft glow over the couple.

"Me too. I really hated being without you these past few weeks."

"Haley, I was here. We were together."

"But we weren't—" Haley paused, looking for the right word. "Together. But we are now."

"Yeah," Nathan agreed, keeping his arms wrapped around her. "London was beautiful."

"Uh-huh. The Thames, and the Tower Bridge, and everything else; it was perfect."

"You know, Haley, I'm so glad I get to spend my life with you like this. Had I never met you, I'd probably be alone right now, and without any form of basketball or anything. I'd be a shell of who I am now."

"Me too." They enjoyed the silence for another moment, and then Haley pulled away slowly. "Alright, if I don't go now I never will." She gave a slight laugh, then angled her head up for a kiss.

"I love you, Hales."

"I love you too, Nathan."