Chapter 5: The Exchange

AN: Thanks so much for sticking around guys! You are seriously so amazing! The turnout we've gotten for this story is seriously unreal. Thank you all so much. Enjoy and as always, please review!

~ C & B ~

Brooke couldn't help but smile as she flipped through the scrapbook she and Bevin made during senior year. It was pink and had a bunch of random stickers to cover the whole front cover. In cut out magazine letters spelled 'senior year' and there was a picture of Brooke with a beer can, laughing at something Peyton had said.

She hadn't touched this scrapbook in ages. It was a whole other life ago. Life seemed so hard back then; the tests, the stress over popularity. But now was when it was hard. Sure, money was the least of the brunette's worries but there was so much more under the clothes of Brooke Davis.

There was a faint knock on the door.

Speaking of the items under the clothes…

Somehow she just knew who it was. The gut feeling that overwhelmed her caused her to drop the scrapbook from her hands. She quickly bent down and slid it under the couch before walking over to the front door of her apartment.

"Brooke," Lucas said, shocked that he could catch her. He tried visiting her yesterday but she wasn't home. He awkwardly shoved his hands into his jean pockets before stepping inside. "Wow. I actually was able to get in touch with you."

The brunette sensed the bitterness and attitude in his voice, but didn't dwell on it. She didn't want to start something that could be avoided. Instead of giving him a peck on the lips like any other couple, they just shared a look before Brooke led him into the kitchen. "Hungry?"

Lucas shook his head, taking a seat on one of the small kitchen stools before turning to look at Brooke who was mindlessly fixing herself a bowl of fruity pebbles. He made a face of disgust, clearly not a fan. "Where've you been?"

Brooke looked at him over her shoulder before pouring milk into her bowl, "Working, helping Chris out with his stuff, avoiding Bitchtoria."

And there it was.

"You and Chris have been talking?" Lucas asked slowly, sitting up straighter in his seat. On instinct, his hands balled into angry yet not jealous fists. "But you can't even call me back?"

"You and Peyton have been talking," Brooke countered, her brows rising as she turned and looked at him, the cereal completely forgotten. "And whenever I even attempted to visit you, you'd dismiss me because you were so busy with your precious Peyton!"

The volume of the brunette's voice shocked Lucas but it also fueled him on and he stood up from the stool. "Peyt and I have been friends since we were kids. When the hell did you even start talking to Chris outside of our group?"

"Chris, your best friend, is there for me when you're too busy turning your back!" Brooke exclaimed back, crossing her arms over her chest. "Who are you anymore?"

"Who am I?" Lucas asked with a scoff. "Who are you? You always answered my text messages the second I sent them and you always visited me. You haven't stepped foot into the house in forever."

"Oh, excuse me for not waiting on your hand and foot anymore," Brooke said back, shaking her head in disbelief. She held up her hand to silence them both and let out a calm breath. This time, her voice was soft and filled with a hurt that neither could quite put their finger on. "When's the last we just had a night together where it was just us? Nothing about work, nothing about anything else in the world? Just me and you and Chinese and the TV and the couch?"

Lucas frowned deeply and ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair. Sad blue eyes met sad hazel. "Brooke.."

"We're not who we were in high school," Brooke whispered, her voice cracking only slightly. "What are we holding onto any-"

As if this was a routinely thing, Lucas's phone went off and the obnoxious noise of some rock band's ringtone filled the kitchen and echoed against the walls. Neither had to say anything. They both knew it was Peyton.

Slowly, Lucas lifted the phone to his ear, "Hello?"

Brooke watched as his face went from hurt with the confrontation he just had with her to concerned and then protective. "Okay, Peyt. It's okay. I'll be right there."

Neither of them said anything once Lucas hung up the phone. He just sent her an apologetic look and was out the door in a second.

Lucas Scott was someone else's hero now.

~ C & B ~

Baby blues widened in awe as the musician's hand curled around the baseball, giving it a light throw back to the tiny dark haired boy. Michael giggled as he caught it, tossing it back with more force than Chris expected. He laughed as he caught it, flexing his fingers to kill their soreness.

"Try thwowing it oberhanded!" the little boy gave Chris an exasperated look, clearly thinking that his (hopefully) future father was going easy on him.

"I don't know how!" Chris admitted, laughing at the roll of the boy's eyes. "Come over here and teach me, little man. I was never very good at sports!"

Michael skipped his way across the park, standing behind Chris with his tiny hand sitting on top, "You gots to thwow like this! See?"

Chris's smile was wide and proud as he listened to the boy, falling more and more in love with this kid every day. He tossed the ball like he was instructed, raising his brow at Michael's amused giggle, "No? Still bad?"

"You's bad at this, Daddy."

The kid ran for the ball, not seeing how still and wide eyed the musician now was. Slowly a smile slid over Chris's the face, the man on his feet and heading toward the boy in seconds. He pulled Michael up into his arms, hugging the boy tightly to his chest.

Tiny arms curled around his neck just as tightly and he closed his eyes. This was everything he'd ever wanted. The music and the fame was great; it was a big part of who he was, but THIS was his future. This was everything.

He took a deep breath and rested his cheek against the boy's head, "I love you, Michael, you know that?"

"I lub you too," the boy nodded, arms tightening. "You's not gonna leave me like my other mommy and daddy ares you?"

Baby blues widened with sadness and Chris shook his head immediately, "No way, Mikey. I'll never leave, okay? I promise. And Chris Keller always keeps his promises."

"Cans we pway ball again?"

Chris laughed loudly at the boy's attention span and lowered him to the ground with a nod, "Go easy on me, boy. I'm not very good at this."

~ C & B ~

"If this is your way of making me jealous, it's a little too late for that, hubby."

Chris's eyes shot up, sliding over the blonde with only a hint of sadness as he remembered what they'd once had and what he'd believed that they would have forever. He shook his head and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest, "And what did I do to try and make you jealous this time, Sawyer? Please enlighten me."

"You know exactly what you did," the curly blonde crossed her arms over her chest right back, raising one perfectly sculpted brow. "Lucas told me how much time you've been spending with Brooke."

Blue eyes rolled back slowly, "Oh so because I spend time with a sexy woman, I must be doing it to get back at you. Come on, Blondie, you can do so much better than that. You were never jealous a single day in our marriage, so what is really bothering you, huh? You never could lie to me."

Green eyes shifted to the side and she took a seat on his couch as if it wasn't weird at all for her to be here after all this time. She met his gaze after a moment, a frown sliding over her lips, "A woman from an adoption agency came to me this morning with questions."

She blinked slowly when he didn't say anything, eyes deep pools of confusion, "You're adopting?"

Chris said nothing, only nodding his head.

Peyton shook her head, eyes darkening a little, "Since when do you want to have kids? You never wanted children when we were together."

He met her eyes and frowned deeply, "Peyton, I always wanted children. You were the one who didn't. You told me so many things that kids weren't your thing, so I pushed it aside. But this adoption isn't anything new. I always wanted this."

He tilted his head, voice soft but not accusing, "You just never noticed."

Curls fell into the girl's eyes and she wiped at her eyes, ashamed of how far they'd fallen. She didn't cry for their broken love, but for the friend in him she'd lost as well. He slid over and lightly patted her shoulder, surprised at how easy it was to touch her now and feel nothing but sympathy over what they'd once thought they had.

He let out a soft breath as she looked up at him with teary eyes, saying something he'd wanted to say for a long time now, "You need to leave Lucas alone."

Peyton looked at him sharply, eyes narrowing, "Who's being jealous now?"

He rolled his eyes, hand falling from her shoulder, "God, Peyton, I don't care who you do now. This isn't about you. And hell, it's not even about Lucas. It's about-"

"Brooke," she filled in.

"Yeah," he nodded seriously, "It is. She deserves so much better than you meddling in her love life. She deserves someone to love her back, and she can't have that with Lucas unless you back off."

"Since when are you so protective of her?"

He shrugged and stood, "Since you broke her heart the first time. Kindly show yourself out."

He headed for his bedroom, muttering a quiet 'bitch' under his breath.

~ C & B ~

Peyton's next stop was Brooke's place. The only reason she even knew where her former best friend's new apartment was, was because Lucas told her without even hesitating. He'd do anything to please his blonde best friend.

With three knocks, the door opened and two pairs of hazel eyes met directly for the first time in forever. As if this all just happened yesterday, Peyton could see the hurt in Brooke's eyes. She swallowed hard and worked up the courage to speak.

Come on, Peyt. If you got this far, you can do the rest.

"Hi."

The pen that was hanging from Brooke's mouth was slowly pulled out and the brunette set her sketchpad down on the table near the door. "What do you want Peyton?"

"Can we talk?" Peyton asked quickly, raising a hand up on the door when Brooke was about to slam it shut. Her eyes were sincere, a pleading in them that showed that she really needed to talk to the brunette; that this wasn't just fun and games. "Please."

Letting out a defeated sigh, Brooke stepped back and let Peyton inside before quietly shutting the door behind her. She didn't say anything, waiting for Peyton to speak up first.

The blonde toyed with her fingers nervously before sitting down on the couch and properly crossing her legs. She looked up at Brooke and spoke, her voice light, "I want to say I'm sorry for how things are going with you and Lucas right no-"

"What's going on with Lucas and I is none of your business," Brooke said, both of them knowing it was a lie. What was going on with her and Lucas had just as much as to do with them as it did with Peyton. She sighed when Peyton looked at her knowingly, taking a seat across from her on the opposite couch. "When you think of Lucas what do you feel?"

As if sparking a match of love, the blonde's hazel eyes sparkled and she sat up straighter. Biting her lip, her voice came out dreamy, "Tingles. Butterflies. Warmth. Protection…Lo-"

Don't say you love him to his current girlfriend!

"Um, love his hair." She shook her head at the lame cover-up and ran her hands over her knees. "He's my best friend. And he deserves to be happy, Brooke. I'm making him happy. I'm sorry if that's making you sad. Really, I am."

The brunette just nodded her head. Sure, Lucas forgot about her and moved on, but it was because he was finally doing something about his unhappiness. "He likes you, Peyton. A lot. The way he looks at you… he hasn't looked at me that way in years. It'll always be you."

The blonde tucked a curl behind her ear and nodded her head, not wanting to flaunt her excitement over those words in front of the brunette. She sat up straight again and gave Brooke a look, "He cares about you, you know."

"I care about Luke too."

"I mean Chris cares," Peyton said hesitantly, biting her bottom lip. "What do you feel when you're with Chris?"

The brunette was taken aback by the question but thought about it. Like really thought about it. No one ever asked her so she never did think about it but now that she is, she was shocked with what she came up with. "I feel like I can be whatever I want and still be accepted. Loved. Appreciated. Understood. Protected."

Both girls sat across from each other, something seriously magical starting to occur. The universe was so unpredictable. Each girl spent her life with a man that was meant for the other. And until now, they realized it. But it was finally realized.

Peyton stood up from the couch and brought her purse over her shoulders, walking over to the front door of Brooke's apartment. She gave Brooke a thank you look for letting her speak before opening the door. She turned to Brooke, speaking in reference to Lucas, "He's a great guy."

"He's a great guy," Brooke repeated with a nod, speaking in reference to Chris.