Brooke slept like a stone that night. Dan had definitely managed to exhaust her with his ideas and her body ached from the sport she had done with him. But she liked it. It showed her that she was still alive and that Dan cared for her.

She woke up with a small smile on her face and stayed in bed for a while and thought about her life. It was crazy that everything could change that fast. She wondered what her parents were doing right now but she tried not to care. She took a deep breath and jumped out of the bed and went downstairs. She did not care whether she was wearing make-up or not. She had been living with the Scotts very often in the past and Deb and Dan just appreciated her the way she was.

xxxxxx

"Good morning sunshine.", Dan said and gave her a cup of coffee. He was definitely in a good mood and Brooke looked a little confused at him but then she saw Deb in the same mood and she knew that they obviously had had a good night. Together. Just the thought of it made her shiver.

"Hey honey. It's nice to see a smile on your face.", Deb hugged Brooke from behind and then opened the refrigerator to start making breakfast.

"Can I help you?", Brooke asked politely but Deb shook her head.

"Nope. I got everything under control.", she was definitely in a good mood. Brooke could not understand their relationship. One day they were yelling at each other as if they were the worst enemies and the next day they were like butterflies to each other. Really weird. She wished that she would have a different relationship with a man one day. She thought of Julian for a moment and started to miss him. Although they had not dated that long, she really liked him and would have given him a chance to get to know her better but unfortunately he was miles away and they had not heard from each other since he had moved away. Sometimes she fantasized that they would meet again in some years and start dating again.

"I want you to close your eyes.", Dan said to Brooke who looked confused at him. The bruise was still visible in her face and her body ached.

"Why?", she asked a little confused and raised an eyebrow. Dan did not answer her and just went behind her and took his hands over her eyes.

"Stop that.", Brooke protested and wanted to get them off but he was stronger and pulled her down off the chair. She did not know that her friends were standing in the living room and smiling at her. "Daaaan.", she whined but then heard someone's laugh. She smiled immediately.

"P. Sawyer", she said and Dan took his hands away. Brooke stood still for a moment when she saw Karen, Lucas, Jake, Peyton, Haley and Nathan standing in front of her. They had to gasp for a moment because they were not prepared to see her with a black eye. Suddenly she could not suppress her tears and they run freely down her cheek.

"Don't I get a proper hug?", Karen opened her arms and Brooke fell into them immediately and cried into her chest.

"I missed you so much.", she whispered and tried to stop crying but did not succeed.

"Oh, we missed you too pretty girl.", Lucas hugged her tightly and finally all the other got a warm hug from their good friend as well. They had tears in their eyes as well and kissed her cheek over and over again. Even Nathan showed his feelings and hugged her tightly.

"I cannot breathe.", she complained but he did not let her go.

"It's good to have you back."

xxxxxx

They day was perfect. All of them were at the Scott's house till the evening. Even Karen and Dan got along and it was not weird for them.

"Yeah and Adam and Veronica let me help them all the time. I can cook a little now.", Brooke told them everything and it felt good. Even talking about her father's beatings and her mother's screaming was kind of healing. She even managed to talk about Jimmy's death a little and told them that Veronica and Adam had helped her a lot to cope with it.

"I don't believe that. I remember your cookies. You mixed up salt and sugar.", Haley laughed and received a little slap from Brooke.

"How should I know whether it's salt or sugar? There was nothing written on it.", Brooke crossed her arms in front of her and defended herself.

"You could have just tasted it before you added it.", Haley said back but Brooke shook her head.

"That's gross. I don't put my finger in a bottle of sugar or salt. What if it was salt, that would taste horrible."

All of them laughed and could see that they had their old Brooke back. At least a bit. Karen knew that she was still wounded and it would take some time to get her back to normal.

xxxxxxx

"Wow. That's amazing.", Brooke looked around in the room. It was painted in her favorite color and all her stuff was in there. "So this will be my room?", she asked.

Lucas had his old room back and she got a new small but very comfortable room.

"It's smaller than Lucas' room and you can change but I thought you would like that and..", Karen stopped talking when Brooke hugged her tightly.

"I don't like it. I love it.", she was really overwhelmed by it and it showed her again that she was welcome in their house.

"So, I am officially your legal guardian now.", Karen hugged Brooke from behind and made the girl blush a little.

"If that's okay?", Brooke whispered and Karen turned her around.

"You don't know how much I missed you Brooke and I don't hesitate one second. I love you and I want you with us.", Brooke could tell that she was not lying and nodded and wiped her tears. Finally she was back with them and it felt great.

Lucas came into the room, "Hey my girls.", he went in the middle of them and took his arms around both of them, "Don't tell me you are crying again?", he saw the tears in their eyes but when they smiled up at him, he could tell that those were happy tears, "Oh, I've missed you pretty girl.", he hugged her tightly and for the first time she felt really safe again.

xxxxxxxx

A little later Brooke was lying in her bed and writing into her diary.

"I am back in Tree Hill. That's where my home is. Home is where your loved ones are. I am happy to have so many people I love and who love me.", she was not in the mood to write more and closed the diary when she heard a soft knock.

"Come in.", she said and Lucas looked into her room.

"Hey, we wanted to watch a movie and we don't want to miss you.", Brooke looked at the clock and then back to Lucas.

"C'mon. You've been up way longer in the past.", she nodded and jumped up and finally had the urge to jump onto his back. He carried her into the living room while both of them were smiling happily. Karen looked at the two teenagers and felt very happy. They sat down on the couch.

"No sad movie please.", Brooke pleaded. She did not want to cry again.

"How about something funny? We have this one.", Karen showed it to them with a wide smile.

"The cactus flower? Never heard of it but okay.", Brooke answered and went under the blanket. She looked to her left and gave Karen a kiss on her cheek and then to the right and gave one to Lucas as well. Both of them kissed her cheek in the mean time back.

All of them loved the movie and had to laugh a lot.

Brooke knew that everything would turn out great. Of course she was still suffering and the things that had happened to her were horrible but with her friends' support, she would make it. She looked at Lucas and blushed a little.

She did not know why but she liked it. She cuddled closer to Karen and soon she fell asleep. She felt safe and protected. Although Karen was not her real mother, she definitely replaced that gap in Brooke's life. And Brooke loved it.

xxxxxxx

THE END

A.N. Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed reading this story. When I started it I wanted to write only some chapters (like 4) about Karen and Brooke but it turned out to be a little longer. I hope that this feels a little like an end. I know that some of you wanted to see Brulian and some of you wanted Brucas...you can decide in your imagination what'll happen. She could fall in love with Lucas again when she's living with Karen and him for the rest of her school-life or she could meet Julian after school again. Everything is possible, right ;). Thank you so much for your reviews. They mean a lot to me and got me this far!

I won't say that I do not consider a sequel because I have some ideas in mind but it depends on you and my time ;).

I wish you the best!

Your CaseyJr.