HJS-NS-23-Authors Note- Hey everyone we just want to think you all for all the reviews. I was a little disappointed we got less then before but this chapter is dedicated to everyone who did review. I hope you like this and believe in the last line of this chapter. Enjoy and don't forget to review.
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Lucas was walking home from Nathan's house. He didn't know what to do concerning Brooke. He was hurt but mostly he realized if he had found out this betrayal when it happened they probably wouldn't be together today.
Lucas sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"What am I supposed to do?" He asked to looking into the sky for some higher force to answer him.
When he looked back in front of him he saw Brooke sitting on the steps going to his room.
He could see the pain on her face and her eyes redden by tears.
Brooke was about to give up when she saw Lucas walking her way. She had been sitting on his steps for almost four hours now and she started to think that he'd left town.
Thank god! She thought when he walked toward her, as she tried to dry her tears.
Lucas sighed and walked passed Brooke like she wasn't there.
Seeing so much coldness on Lucas' face just broke Brooke's heart.
She burst into tears again. "Please Luke…Talk to me." She cried out "It can't be over! I love you so much!" she added with so much pain in her voice that Lucas stopped immediately.
"Please look at me." Begged Brooke between her sobs that were racking her body.
Lucas' heart broke, he hated to hear Brooke cry and even if this time she was the one causing the drama he didn't feel differently.
Lucas sighed and finally turned around to face her. "Your sister phoned me." He said trying to sound cold. "She asked me to forgive you but…" He took a deep breath. "But I'm not sure I can." He added sincerely.
Brooke nodded biting her lips together as hard as she could.
Lucas could see that she was trying to contain her tears but she didn't succeed.
"I know." She finally said crying even harder. "I…I know what I did is a terrible thing and I never forgave myself for it." She added with pain.
It took Lucas all his inner strength not to run to her and dry her tears. He hated to see her hurt or sad. God damn it!! This doesn't change a thing! I still love her as much as I used too. Thought Lucas angry with himself. Why do I even bother? He added to himself.
"Why Brooke?" Asked Lucas with pain in his voice. He didn't want to sound cold anymore. "Why did you do that to me? To us?" He added fighting back the tears. You need to be strong.
"I don't know!" Shouted Brooke with sincerity walking to him. She walk close enough to take his hand but she didn't because she knew that if he removed it… she wouldn't be able to bare the pain." I…I had a chat with Jade and she told me that once you found out about my past you'd dump me and I somehow believed her." She saw doubts in Lucas's eyes. "You were and you are so perfect Luke." She added sincerely. "So…so I went to a bar with my fake id, I drank too much and slept with Keller." She said with shame. "When I woke up that morning I hated myself and I tried my best to gain some kind of absolution over the year." Brooke put her hand in front of her mouth to contain her sobs.
Lucas sighed and closed his eyes.
"I always knew I wasn't good enough to be with you Lucas Eugene Scott." Said Brooke sadly shaking her head. "I somehow hoped you'd never find out." She added with a sad smile. "I…I love you Luke." She turned around to leave, walking away as the tears started to fall down her cheeks again. I can't believe I lost him! She thought with a sharp pain in her chest. How am I supposed to even continue breathing now!
It can't be over! Not now…not like this, Lucas thought. "Brooke wait!" He shouted.
Brooke stopped near Lucas fence but didn't turn around.
"I love you." She heard behind her, he was standing right behind her.
She closed her eyes and her heart missed a beat.
"I love you Brooke and no Chris Keller in this world can change that… Unfortunately," Added Lucas putting a hand on her shoulder.
Brooke put her hand on top of his. She was scared to turn around. A part of her had this irrational fear to turn around and that Lucas was not really standing there telling her he loved her.
"Gosh I love you so much." She whispered like she was talking to herself. "I can't imagine my life without you".
"You don't have to." Said Lucas nicely. "I'm not going anywhere."
Brooke finally turned around to face him.
"You forgive me?" She asked with disbelief.
Lucas started to dry her tears gently. He gave her a sad smile. "I…. We'll work things out." He said nicely. "I'm hurt and angry Brooke I won't deny that, but I love you too much to let you go…" He shook his head in despair. "I know you weren't the same person then. I'm marrying the beautiful, confident, cheery Brooke." He said rubbing her cheek. "Not the teenage insecure Brooke you once were." He said as he hugged her.
Brooke tightened their embrace and buried her face in his chest. "So we're good?" She asked against his chest.
"No…but we will be". Said Lucas kissing her forehead. He looked at his watch: 1 AM. "By the way…happy birthday Brooke." He said sincerely still hugging her.
Your forgiveness is the greatest gift. Thought Brooke feeling better with his body heat radiating her.
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"Hey Baby girl, you ready for your birthday party?" Jake asked knocking on her door.
"Yep" Haley said coldly and walking past him.
"Look Hales I'm sorry ok? I didn't mean to go off on you but you're my best friend and you keep pushing me away, because I know that it would be better for these kids to have a father and mother, especially a family. I grew up with a family and you didn't. Your parents divorced, is that really what you want your kids to go through? I'm not taking Nathan's side I'm just thinking about what's in the best interest for you and your kids because I love you. I'm so sorry for yelling at you though. You don't need it or deserve it." Jake said apologizing.
"I hate it when we fight" Haley said starting to cry. " I love you and I know you're only doing what you think is right but it's my life Jake okay? I just need you to support me." Haley said letting the tears fall down her cheeks.
"Okay" Jake said dropping the discussion for now. He would get help from Lydia at the party. "Now come on birthday girl," he told her. "Remember true love always finds it's way back," he added softly.
When they got to Joe's Java Haley was surprised to see Lydia there. "Mom" Haley yelled and waddled over to her mother her belly slowing her down.
"Haley you should be sitting down" Her mother told her sternly before embracing her daughter into a hug.
Haley sat down in a booth with her mother next to her and Jake and Olivia across from her. "So how's the pregnancy going?" Lydia asked looking at her daughter. She knew from experience how tough it was having to carry twins.
"Its ok…I'm glad to be finished with the morning sickness and now I can't wait to feel them start kicking," Haley said excitedly.
"Oh just wait I swear when I was pregnant with you and Brooke you two would take turns kicking me through the night so I barely got any sleep." Lydia said laughing.
"Oh I just want to feel my babies" Haley said rubbing her belly and sighing.
"Don't you think Nathan deserves to feel them kick Hales?" Her mother asked knowing this was a touchy subject.
"What is it with everyone being on Nathan's side? He doesn't want one baby let alone two" Haley screamed her hormones and anger taking over.
"No you're being irrational. Now I love you and I know what Nathan did was wrong but you cant keep your children away from him. Olivia told me about the letter. What's the real reason you don't want Nathan around the kids because you still love him and your scared to get hurt again?" Lydia asked knowing the answer already.
"No" Haley said with attitude before looking at her stomach.
"Haley I'm your mother you can't lie to me. Look at me…just because your father and I split up doesn't mean that true love doesn't exist and that's what you and Nathan have. You two can be a family. I know deep down that's what you want." Lydia told her while rubbing Haley's back soothingly.
"No its not" Haley said stubbornly shaking her head and willing the tears not to fall.
"Baby, hiding isn't the solution. That husband of yours came to California to find you! He begged me to tell him where you were. He looked like a complete mess and I have it on good authority that all he does is sit in the dark and hum a depressing song. You're his life baby girl, just like your mine, but he needs you as much as you need him. So why don't you just go back to Duke and talk to him?" Lydia questioned.
"I don't wanna go to Duke" Haley said sniffling.
"Hales hiding is not the solution, you need to face Nathan, the choices you made and your mistakes." Lydia said drying a tear off Haley's face.
"Yea baby girl there's no use running from who you are because it doesn't matter how fast or how far you run your past will always find you." Jake said knowingly.
"No I can't. I can't let him get close to me. I can't let him hurt me. He broke my heart. How could he not want kids with me? I thought he loved me. I thought always and forever but that was a lie. How can he go from not wanting these precious angels to wanting them? Why is he trying to hurt me?" Haley asked the tears streaming down her face and not stopping.
"Come here hunny. Let it all out" Lydia said holding her daughter. Finally Haley broke down in her mother's arms. Lydia softly murmuring everything was going to be ok as Jakes heart broke more for the broken couple. He was leaving in two days and he really wanted Haley to come back with him and face Nathan. They needed each other you could see in their eyes and how they had been holding up without the other beside them.
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2 days later Jake left Vancouver to head back to Durham. I really hope she comes back to Duke and we talked some sense into her, Jake thought. Finally getting back at 11 Jenny asleep next to him in the car. He made it to his apartment and brought Jenny in. He was surprised that Peyton was asleep on the couch. He had given her a key a while ago and told her he was coming home tonight. She must have tried to stay up and wait for me, Jake thought with a smile.
Jake quickly put Jenny in her bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead before turning on her tinker bell night-light and closing the door. Walking back to the couch he put a blanket on Peyton and kissed her forehead.
"Hmmm" Peyton mumbled when she felt Jakes kiss and she opened her eyes slowly.
"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you" Jake whispered.
"No its fine I must of dozed off." Peyton said sitting up. "So how did it go with Haley?" she asked curiously.
"I don't know" Jake said honestly. "I really hope we got through to her and she comes back."
"She was thinking about not coming back?" Peyton asked surprised.
"Yea" Jake told her sitting on the couch next to her. "How's Nathan doing?" Jake asked.
"Worse than before. I mean before when you turned a light on he would look at you. He barley talks I heard. Lucas called and wants me to try to talk to him. This is worse than when he lost his dad or Angela." Peyton said shaking her head.
"Whose Angela?" Jake asked not familiar with the name.
"Um the short version and trust me don't ever say anything to Nathan about this. She was this girl that really liked him and he liked her too but was too afraid to admit it. There was a party and she asked Nathan to drive her home because he had been ignoring her all night and flirting with every girl. He blew her off and said he was going to have a quickie with some random cheerleader. Anyway... She started to cry and took his car and left. She killed herself about a mile away." Peyton said.
"What?" Jake asked in disbelief. Man I thought he was an asshole in college he seems like he was worse in high school.
"Now as I was saying before when he went to the hospital he said something to Lucas who later repeated it to me. He told him that it was all his fault and that every person he cared about left him! That he didn't deserve to be loved and everything like that. After that terrible night Nathan became even worse of a player. Then he met Haley and they fell in love and he made a mistake and if she doesn't come back and try to work things out with him…I honestly don't know what's going to happen to him" Peyton said sniffling.
Jake didn't know what to say so he just wrapped an arm around Peyton and let her cry into his chest. Now I defiantly need to get them back together, he thought trying to figure out a plan.
The next day Peyton awoke with a mission on her mind. Quickly getting out of bed Peyton found some clothes and got dressed. After her talk with Lucas and Jake she knew she was probably the only one who could talk to Nathan besides Haley. After all they were in the same club. She drove to Nathan and Haley's apartment. Well I guess Nathan's now she thought sadly.
When she got there she walked right in knowing the door would be unlocked. "Hey Scott you up?" She called into the apartment.
Looking around she couldn't believe how disgusting it was. Pizza boxes and empty pop bottles littered the apartment. Closing her eyes to gain some strength she headed for the bedroom. Walking in she saw him laying on the bed staring at the ceiling with his I-pod in his ears singing softly to what everyone had deemed his song. Okay Sawyer pull yourself together this is what Lucas said he would be like. Taking a deep breath she sat at the end of the bed and waited for him to notice her. After waiting 5 minutes her impatience won out and she hit his leg so he would look at her.
"What do you want Peyton?" He asked exasperated.
"Oh you mean besides to see your charming face, I came to see if you wanted to talk. We are in the same club and everything." Peyton said.
Nathan didn't say anything but looked at her with his eyebrows bunched together.
"The lose one of your parents or in our case both your parents club," She told him.
"Oh" He said quietly.
"Look I know your hurt that Haley's gone but she'll come back Nate just give her some time." She said bracing herself for his attack.
"No it's just like Angela all over again except worse. I loved her Peyton with all my heart and I was an asshole. I was right when I lost Angela… it's my fault that every person I care about or loves leaves me. I don't deserve to be loved and I don't deserve happiness." He told her as tears filled his eyes. He pushed them back, he didn't deserve to cry this was all his fault.
"Come on Nathan you don't seriously believe that do you?" Peyton asked.
"Its like you said when your mom died…people always leave, except I push those people away." He added sadly.
Peyton's heart broke for her friend, she heard what Haley was thinking about doing and Jake also told her how miserable she was without Nathan. Why can't Haley just let her damn stubbornness go, she thought miserably.
"Nathan just have faith…everything will work out," She told him. At least I hope it does.