Title: Promise

Summary: He was out of place in the beautiful church but the only thing that mattered was his promise to her.

Dis: I don't own anything

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It was a beautiful day; at least that's what she told herself. Today was the most important day in her life. She was marrying the man of her dreams. It had taken years but her boyfriend finally proposed and six months later here she was staring at her own reflection in the mirror while Peyton and Haley were fixing last minute details on her dress and veil.

Peyton looked up and caught her eyes through the mirror and saw something she wouldn't have expected, sadness.

"Brooke, what's wrong?" Surprised that she'd been caught she chuckled nervously before looking down.

"I guess its pre-wedding jitters." Not convinced with that answer Peyton just stared at her but she also didn't push any further which Brooke was thankful for. "So, is everything all set?"

"Yeah, nothing to worry about, focus on the man that's waiting for you in the church." Haley told her with a smile as she pulled the veil over her friend's face.

Brooke wondered about Haley and how she felt with today. Haley would have been married by now but on the day of her wedding the groom was nowhere to be found. She remembered Haley's tear-stricken face and the faint words of 'it wasn't meant to be' before she bolted out the door in her white wedding dress, that was two years ago but Brooke still felt guilty.

Haley was to marry her best friend but before the wedding Brooke had gone to him and asked him if he was sure he was doing the right thing. She remembered that night so clearly wishing that she hadn't had gone to him.

He heard a faint knock on his bedroom door before Brooke opened it and stepped through. He looked to the side from his position on the bed and smiled as he saw his best friend come through his door.

He had known her since he was in the ninth grade but they had not always been best friends. At first, they hated each other, always bantering back and forth. She always thought of him as an egotistical, self-centered jerk and he always thought of her as a brainless bitch but they didn't know each other then. Now, they were always together, some even wondered if they were a couple but they weren't.

"Hey, what brings you by?" he asked her as he sat up and motioned for her to sit next to him. Once she sat down she started fiddling with her hands. She never fiddled, which meant that she was nervous and he marveled at how much he knew about her.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, you're too young. Twenty is too young." Brooke rambled as she looked into his eyes and he saw the fear in them. "Are you sure?"

Finally able to let out what he was thinking about before she came he blurted "Brooke, I...I don't know." He told her as he dropped his head into his hands. He felt her hand on his back and then she started rubbing circles to try and comfort him.

He didn't know when he got like this either, he had never been the soft type but maybe he began around the time he started talking to her more. When they had shared something painful from their past that bonded them, after they had slowly began to form a friendship.

He started caring about himself and the way he acted. He wanted to show her he could be something more, someone better. Or maybe that was when he started having a crush on her but he always denied having more-than-friendly feelings towards her.

When he and Haley had become a couple everyone was skeptical about them. The entire school thought they wouldn't last and maybe they were right but he had only gotten with her because Brooke had gotten with HIM.

He was scared of losing his best friend and keeping busy with Haley kept his mind off Brooke. At first, he thought it was because he was jealous that Brooke was spending most of her time with her new boyfriend than her friend but he soon started realizing that he liked her, liked her A LOT.

Later, he couldn't stand her and her boyfriend together so he had proposed to Haley. Now, a day before his wedding with Brooke sitting next to him, he didn't think it was a good idea at all. Don't get him wrong, he LOVED Haley but not the way she wanted him too.

"Brooke, I think I made a mistake. I…I don't know if I could go through with It." he said in between in hands. He heard her sigh and get up only to kneel in front of him and move his hands into hers.

She looked him in the eyes and said the only thing she could muster up "don't."

Neither knew how it happened, maybe the way they were staring at each other, faces so close that their breaths mingled with one another or the different emotions in each other's eyes but before they could grasp the situation both leaned in and lips brushed in a soft and tender movement. They pulled back stunned and he didn't make a move to stop her as she fled from the room.

The only thing he could muster up after ten minutes of silence was one word "shit!"

"BROOKE, hello, you in there?"snapping fingers brought her back to reality and the shrill of Peyton's voice.

"Damn, Peyton, I'm right here, geez." Running her fingers down her dress she returned Peyton's questioning gaze "well?"

"What were you thinking about?" Brooke didn't know what to answer, she couldn't tell Peyton the truth but she also couldn't lie to her.

"Just memories" well it was the truth. Peyton believed her and nodded. Door opening and an upbeat Haley captured their attention.

"It's time" she said while clapping both her hands. Peyton and Brooke made their way to the door. As they made their way down the hall all three made sure everything was set before Brooke walked down the aisle. "You look so beautiful Brooke. He's going to die when he see's you." Brooke simply smiled as Haley told her.

Maybe she could do this but she felt like a hypocrite when only two years ago she was saying how twenty was too young to get married. Wasn't twenty-two the same thing?

"That's our cue" Peyton said as he and Haley got in formation to head out into the church. As the doors opened Brooke could see her man at the altar waiting.

He looks so handsome in his tux Brooke thought as Peyton made her way down the aisle in her black strapless dress. Haley followed with her matching dress and soon it would be her turn.

Run Brooke thought but her feet did not listen. She heard the wedding song start and stood behind the two double doors.

As they opened she felt everyone's eyes on her and she willed her feet to move. Slowly she made her way down the aisle but did not see the one pair of eyes following her with sadness from the shadows of the church.

As she made her way up to her future husband she couldn't stop thinking about that one night two years ago. Soon she felt someone grab her hand and whisper to her "you look beautiful Brooke".

"We are gathered here today to join this man Lucas Scott and this woman Brooke Davis in holy matrimony." The minister said but everything seemed like a blur as Brooke stood and listened. "Now, I believe is the time to ask. If anyone here thinks these two should not be joined in holy matrimony speak now, or forever hold your peace." Brooke just stood there with her hands in Lucas' and waited while staring in his eyes.

"STOP!" Brooke turned to that familiar voice and couldn't believe her eyes.

He was out of place amidst the bouquets and elegant people with his red rimmed blue eyes, messy short black hair, leather jacket, black pants and some biking boots but none of that mattered to him, the only thing that mattered to him was the girl in the white wedding dress: Brooke Davis.

"Brooke, if you say I do I'll leave and never look back but if you leave with me I'll always be there for you. Sometimes you might hate me and I might hate you too but I'll always be there, I'll never leave you. I promise. I love you Brooke".

She didn't know what to say. Here she was standing at the altar ready to say I do to another man when HE came in here and declared his love for her.

She looked at Lucas and he was glaring so hard that she thought he was going to pop a vein. Peyton and Haley both were staring with wide eyes but Haley's eyes showed hurt.

Feeling embarrassed when she didn't respond he bowed his head and scratched the back of his neck as he rambled "sorry, just…uh, thought you should know. Um, I'll go, I'm… I'm sorry, just carry on."

Squaring his shoulders he turned his back and started walking towards the doors. He knew he blew it and that he did it while making a fool of himself but none of that hurt more than having to know he lost the one girl he truly cared about and probably ever will care about. That was until he heard "Wait Nathan".

Brooke dropped her bouquet and ran down the stairs as fast as her feet let her. When he turned around she jumped into his arms and kissed him and never felt happier in her life.

"I'll come with you" she said when pulling away but was surprised when he hugged her so tight she thought he would crack her ribs.

Together they walked hand in hand out the church and towards their life. She didn't look back, she didn't have to because her future was beside her and she knew he would be because the only thing that mattered to her was his promise. And he never broke a promise.

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END