Alright I know this is pretty short, but I wanted to get something up so you guys know I'm not going to abandon this. I've been really busy with school lately, but I'm working on getting these chapters ready, I promise. I'm not really all too happy with this chapter, but I promise it'll get better.

Thank You all so very much for the story alerts and reviews. When I get more time I'll put some more personal thank-you's up. I appreciate it so very much.

Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing. And Monday's episode sucked. Fuck Julian.

"Now boarding flight 4787 to Tree Hill, North Carolina".

Brooke took a deep breath and stood up. She couldn't believe herself.

She was going back to Tree Hill.

It had been four years since she'd talked with anyone from home, save for Rachel who had disappeared for awhile and was now in rehab in Utah. So here she was… alone again, getting ready to go home. She couldn't say she wasn't worried though. She was extremely nervous how people would take her return, if everyone would be mad... angry...happy? Little did she know almost everyone was returning, all for their own reasons. Her biggest worry though, was Lucas. What would their first interaction be… would he be angry with her? Would they even have one? Would he have moved on? Was he still hung up on her? Did she want him to be? She was sure he was probably hurt by her actions that fateful night four years ago…especially with the way that they left things that night. As far as he knew, the ring was long gone… either rotted away or pawned off by some local who had stumbled upon it or even on some random girls finger. Little did Lucas know that after he walked away so did she. She wasn't about to play his games and if he wanted to be stupid and leave such a nice piece of jewelry laying around for anyone to take, then that was just fine with her. But she couldn't believe the audacity of him to just leave Keith's ring lying there. What an idiot! Seriously who leaves a ring like that just lying around? Brooke had made it almost home, all the while thinking about everything that had happened and realized what a mistake it was for him to just leave the ring there, nonetheless Keith's ring, on a park bench. So she walked back and picked it up. She promised herself that she'd give it back to him in the morning, before she left and he'd just have to take it back. But as she woke up the next day she realized she didn't want to give it back. She'd keep it as a reminder of what they had, but also as a reminder of the pains that she went through and to never make the same mistakes again. Little did she know how useful the ring would be over the next four years. Anytime she didn't want to get hit on endlessly when she went out or if she just wanted another excuse to get out of a potential date, she'd take the ring off her necklace and put it on. She didn't use it much because she really only went out on "dates" for social appearances. It was never dinner and a movie, only premieres and public appearances. But now, especially lately, she'd wondered about Lucas and his promise. She wondered if he had moved on… if he was dating someone, if he had dated/was dating Peyton… was he married? Maybe it was her desire for a family but she'd been putting more thought into it lately. Maybe it was just her loneliness… but if she was going to be honest with herself, which she never was anymore, she still loved Lucas deep down. She didn't go out on dates for a reason. She didn't want to have guys interested in her for a reason. All the guys that she had an interest in always had something wrong with them, never enough for her, and she knew the reason. She compared every single one of them to Lucas and it drove her crazy. She wanted more than anything to let him go, but it always came back to him. And it drove her absolutely fucking nuts. It's not like it all mattered anyways, she'd made her choice four years ago and rehashing the past would do no good.

"We are now landing in Tree Hill. We hope you've had a great flight…" the pilot started speaking over the intercom, giving her the weather report and all the other little things they did.

Wow. She landed already? She didn't remember boarding. She didn't remember much of any of the flight. Had she really just been on auto-pilot the entire flight, did this mean that much to her that it consumed her thoughts?

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Lindsey was supposed to arrive at 2:35 p.m. Lucas was on his way to pick her up for a meeting. They were going to discuss his new book and start preliminary editing on it. Her trip was planned for two weeks, in which they'd spend as much time editing it as possible, in preparation to present it to her bosses; which meant endless hours working closely, trying to get the novel perfected before being sent out. Lucas never particularly cared for this process, knowing it was an intense period of time that resulted in chopping and scrutinizing his work. As he sat there waiting and pondering everything he was about to encounter, something caught his eye. A flash of a familiar color. He froze for a second. There were millions of people out there… there was no possible way that was her. He stood up quickly and worked his way towards where he had seen the flash, pushing and bumping people all the way. He nearly made it there when he heard his name yelled.

"Lucas, over here!"

Lindsey, his book editor was yelling his name. With one last glance he searched the crowded airport, then turned around and made his way towards Lindsey. 'It couldn't have been. She has a life in New York. Why would she ever come back here? She has a company, a very successful one at that…' he rationalized and pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. It wasn't her. It simply couldn't be. She'd told him her true feelings that night at the river court and he'd left his heart there with her. She hadn't attempted any communication with any of them since she'd left. It just wasn't her.

"Hey Lucas" greeted Lindsey.

"Hey Lindsey" he replied as he hugged her, "ready to get outta here?"

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As she walked out of the gate she felt indifferent. There was no one here to pick here up besides the limo driver since this was no longer a place she called home. But it felt like that, home that is. There was always something about this place that felt magical when you returned… like nothing had changed, that life could be simple, it could be relaxing.

Then she saw him.

Her eyes must have been deceiving her. No way could he have known she was coming. It couldn't be him. No way. Impossible.

But it was. He was sitting in a chair staring at the ground to the left of the gate, quite a ways away. She suddenly felt herself moving in his direction. She couldn't help it. It was like she was a fly drawn to the blue light. She had no clue what she'd say or why she was even moving towards him, but here she was. Just as she was opening her mouth to say something she heard a woman's voice behind her say quietly "Lucas…Lucas…where are you…" Thankfully the airport was packed with people getting off and on their planes because as soon as she heard that she peeled off, turning away from him. Just as she had turned she heard the girl yell, "Lucas…" Yeah, must be his girlfriend. She made it a few feet, placing her sunglasses on her face and slowly turned around. Just as she did, she saw the two hugging and what looked like kissing. Good thing she hadn't walked over to him. It was obviously his girlfriend. She heard him ask if the girl was ready to "get out of there" and that was enough for her. Well it looks like she'd made the right decision all those years ago.


Obviously he didn't mean a word he'd said.

Asshole.