Authors note: As always, I'm LOVING the reviews! You guys are the best. You make me want to write a good story and your comments keep me on my toes so that I don't go all overboard with the characters.

A special thank you to pOoLbEeRtAtToOs for not getting tired of my looong e-mails with strange questions ;) You REALLY help me, you know! And you seem to understand my problems with not wanting to "write down" Brookes character.

---

CHAPTER 6 – We're All In This Together

Lucas runs after Brooke through the entrance doors but she is too fast. It's dark outside and for the second time this last week he's left watching her car's rear lights disappearing in the distance, wondering what the hell had just happened. Desperately he tries to piece together the puzzle and to get his brain to function at least close to normally.
Peyton had told him Brooke was pregnant. And Brooke had admitted that is was true. Then he had done some yelling, even though he can't for his life remember what he had said. And now Brooke is driving away, far over the speed-limit, and inside of her she has his baby. Their baby…

He runs his fingers through his hair, not knowing what to do, when Rachel comes up beside him and he can feel her angry looks.

"For being a smart guy, you really are stupid Lucas" she says crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'M being stupid?!"

He turns around, watching her with disbelief. Brooke had just driven off without any explanation to why she had lied to him about everything this last month and Rachel was saying that HE was being the stupid one? But Rachel isn't backing down; she just keeps staring at him.

"Yes YOU! Have you any idea how hard these last weeks have been to Brooke, huh? She's been all alone, without anyone to fend for her, while you have been nursing your stupid pride and playing house with Peyton!"

"But I had no idea she was pregnant! How was I supposed to know when she didn't tell me?"

Rachel's eyes burn with anger. "So not the point here! You were supposed to care about HER, regardless of her being pregnant or not. That was kind of the point of her breaking up with you and maybe you would see that if you could pull your head out of Peyton's ass!!!"

She starts to walk away from him.

"I have to go see how she's doing. Have a great night Luke."

First he's just standing there, but then he takes a deep breath.

"Wait up Rachel. I'll come with you."

She slows down and turns to face him again. Her face is cold, almost threatening.

"No. You're NOT coming with me. She doesn't need you to make her feel worse right now. If you even knew her you would know that she does that perfectly herself!"

He knows she's right. Brooke blames her self more than anyone he knows, but this time maybe for all the right reasons because this time it really wasn't his fault. Or was it?
He throws out his hands in frustration.

"Okay, what's wrong with you women? Huh? What the hell do you want from me?!?" I love Brooke!!!! I've loved her for ages… But none of you god damn women seems to understand that!"

He's yelling know, he knows that. But this situation is making him crazy.

"Peyton keeps kissing me, Haley keeps lecturing me. You, you just scream at me… And all I want is Brooke! But what the hell am I supposed to do when she just keeps DUMPING me??"

He stops ranting and takes a deep breath, trying to get his pulse back to normal. Rachel looks kind of shocked and her mouth is open, like on a fish.

"I know I shouldn't have screamed at her" he continues a little calmer "but I guess I was just really hurt that she felt she had to lie to me. I thought… well… I don't know what I thought…"

Inside of him it's total chaos. Emotions are fighting each other trying to decide whether he should try to explain to Rachel what he's feeling or if it's useless. Rachel is Brooke closest confidant right now and she's just defending Brooke. But Rachel finally speaks;

"I don't know if you're telling the truth Lucas. Hell, I think you are the most confused guy I ever met. But if you're going to go see her, then you should go alone. I'll stay here for a while. I need to talk to that bitch formally known as Peyton anyway and that'll give you guys a chance to try and talk this out."

He nods, knowing that she is probably right. "Okay."

"I'll get Mouth to drive me home in a couple of hours. But I'm telling you Lucas, if you hurt her… in any kind of way… I'm just warning you…"

He rings the doorbell a couple of times but either Brooke doesn't hear it or she just doesn't want to open. Her car is parked in the driveway and he can see the lights being on in her room so finally he just turns the doorknob. It isn't locked and he steps into the hallway.

"Brooke…" he calls but there's no answer. Maybe she had already gone to sleep? He climbs the stairs and pushes open the door to her bedroom. Her bed is empty but her jeans and shoes are on the floor. Then he hears the sound from the bathroom and he walks over to the semi-open bathroom door. Brooke is knelt over the toilet, trying to hold back her hair while throwing up her guts. And suddenly he feels so sorry for her.

"Baby…" he says softly, collecting her strands of hair and holding them back for her. She throws up again and again, until he can't even understand how there can be anything left inside that small body.

He feels kind of helpless just standing there and he strokes her back with his free hand, over and over again reassuring her that it's going to be okay. Finally she stops, and he backs away to give her space as she's slowly standing up. She turns on the water faucet and rinses her mouth before washing her face with the cold water.

Without looking at him she whispers;

"What are you doing here Lucas?"

"I figured we needed to talk…"

She still has her back towards him but he can see her shoulders tensing up. "About what? I thought you said that I could 'save it'…"

He hasn't realized until now that she is hardly dressed, just in panties and a small spaghetti-strapped top, and apart from what that sight always does to him, he also notices how frail she's looking. Kind of like she's been loosing weight.

"Seriously Brooke, how are you feeling?" he says, ignoring her last comment and trying to keep his voice soft. The anger he felt just a little while ago is long gone and seeing her like this just makes him worried. She turns to face him, leaning against the counter.

"Do you really want to now? I think the truth would actually kill your buzz…"

He can see that she's trying to put up a face. Trying to be the same independent and bitchy Brooke that he has been seeing lately. The one she always tries to be when she's hurt. But tonight he's not really buying it because he can see how she's shivering and how her fingers unconsciously fiddle with the hem of her top.

"Try me…" he says watching her "I think I can take it." And it's like she crumbles. She stares down into the clinkered floor, silently breathing in and out.

"Honestly Luke, I don't feel so good…" her voice is weak and somewhat shaky. "I'm scared, lonely and… just confused, I guess… and I can't seem to stop throwing up all around the clock. I always thought it was called morning-sickness for a reason, but obviously it should be called all day-sickness."

She tries to laugh, making her words sound less serious in a typical Brooke-fashion, but it comes out more as a sob and as he leans against the doorframe he can see her bottom lip start trembling.

"If you were scared and lonely, then why didn't you tell me?" he asks with a soft voice. "I could have helped."

"I was going to, at first. But all that Peyton-stuff got in the way, and then the wedding and the accident, and when everything finally calmed down…"

"…You decided to dump me instead?"

Now she looks up meeting his gaze with eyes full of tears. "It wasn't even like that Luke! I just didn't want to tell you and have us staying together because I got pregnant. We were through. I mean seriously, we hardly even talked anymore… but knowing you I knew you would want to stick with me to do the 'right thing'… I just didn't want to put any of us through that…"

She looks so pale, and as she rambles on he's starting to worry that she is going to faint. Maybe they should sit down. But he doesn't want to break the moment, making her stop talking to him.

"I would have been there for you no matter what Brooke…We're in this together" he says instead, "Don't you know that?"

"How could I? Huh? It's not like I've been able to trust you to be there for me in the past… Then again, you don't have to worry about being anywhere for me now either. We'll both be fine 'cause I'm probably not having it."

He freezes. "What?"

"I'm don't think I'm keeping the baby. I've already talked to the clinic and it's not too late…"

He looks at her trying to grasp what it is she's telling him. This couldn't be happening. She was supposed to fall into his arms now, depending on him to take care of her through all of this. She wasn't supposed to say that she didn't need him…

"So you were actually going to abort my child without even telling me that I made you pregnant? That's cold even coming from you, don't you think?" he says harshly, feeling hurt and pushed aside.

Her eyes darken and her facial expression goes from hurt to cold.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" she hisses. "You do realize that you have absolutely no say in this? At the game tonight I actually thought that we could talk about this like grown ups and maybe work it out together but since you're obviously not capable of that; then this MY body, MY choice…"

He feels as though someone has pulled the carpet away from under his feet. Brooke is being unreasonable. He couldn't have been there more for her since she didn't even tell him what was going on. But if that is true, then why is he feeling guilty? He thinks about what Rachel had said about why Brooke had broken up with him but pushes the thoughts to the back of his mind. Trying to concentrate on the matter at hand. Abortion.

"You can't have an abortion Brooke! It's a baby! It's OUR baby…"

"Don't even go there Lucas Scott! You DON'T get to screw me over like this! You can't first cheat on me, make me pregnant, leave to be with my former best friend and then pass judgment on how I choose to make my decisions. Decisions concerning ME!

"But I'm…"

"NO Luke! You suck! Now leave!"

Then the tears finally start spilling onto her cheeks. Tears of anger, tears of sorrow and probably tears of sheer tiredness. And watching her he feels this ache in his chest.

"Listen Brooke, I know you're really scared right now…"

He bridges the gap between them by walking the few steps over to her and pulling her into his arms. He want's to be angry with her but seeing her so hurt because of him makes it impossible. At first she tries to get out of his hug but he keeps holding her. And finally she stops fighting him and he can feel her body tense up as she starts to cry for real.

"Can't we talk about this?" he whispers into her hair as she sobs, face buried into his t-shirt. "Isn't there anyway I can get you to really talk to me about what you're thinking? I want to be here for you…"

"I'm just so tired Lucas…" she says, her voice not being more then a slight whisper. She's kind of swaying, as if she doesn't have the power left to stand up straight and he realizes that how ever much he wants to talk, Brooke really needs to get to bed. The anger and the crying have taken all of her last energy reserves.

Without saying anything more, he gently picks her up and carries her back into the bedroom. She feels so light in his arms, as if she hardly weighs anything at all, and he thinks about how long it's been since he last held her in his arms like this. Maybe not more then a month but it feels like years. He puts her down on the bed and gently pulls the covers up over her, then sits down beside her, silently stroking her hair.

"I've got you Cheery…" he whispers. "You're safe know…"

Honestly he knows that's not the truth. By this time tomorrow he would probably be back to being really mad at her for deceiving him. But thinking about all the nights this last month that she has gone to sleep alone and hurting makes him want to beat himself. He had known something was wrong but instead of forcing her to tell him he had just felt sorry for him self.

Rachel had been right. He should have been there for Brooke instead of nursing his bruised ego by hanging out with Peyton. But Peyton had needed him too with everything that had happened to her with Psycho-Derek. Right?

Everything is suddenly so confusing and sitting there comforting his beautiful and pregnant ex-girlfriend he thinks that maybe the problem isn't about the pregnancy at all.

Maybe the problem is between him and Peyton?

"Peyton always needs me" he thinks. "And I'm always there for her. But why?"

------------

Lucas fingers are stroking her hair and her cheeks and she slowly closes her eyes. She wants to crawl up with him and share the warmth of his body but she can't. The carefully glued back pieces of her heart fall apart just by thinking of it.
Even in the dark bedroom she can see him brooding and she doesn't want to talk to him about all this anymore. She's tired of it. Tired of being heartbroken and miserable. Tired of hearing his voice filled with fear trying to comfort her. And most of all, she's tired of being just eighteen years old and pregnant.

But she is also painfully aware of the fact that Lucas, her Lucas, wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for the pregnancy. He would then be off somewhere with Peyton.

The other day when he hugged her outside of Whitey's office she had though that maybe there was a chance for them but it had been her hormones talking. After the accident he had chosen Peyton's company before hers so many times and the same thing happened every time he needed to talk to someone. It's all too obvious to her that she is not enough.

And this what hurts her the most. The sheer pain of knowing that she's not the one that he really wants.

When Lucas wanted sex he came to her though, and bizarly that was exactly what has put them both in this situation.

"It's seems like my body is playing tricks with my heart" she thinks. "Lucas cheats on me, and I get pregnant…"

Sure, last time she thought she was pregnant it had just been a scare, but she had been equally terrified, knowing that she was alone and that Lucas wanted someone else. He had been the one flipping the test over and looking at it, she didn't have the guts, and she can still remember the fear in his voice…

"It's positive".

"Oh my God…"

She had sat her self down next to him on the bed and her tears had started streaming down her face. "…I'm pregnant".

Lucas had put his arm around her shoulders trying to comfort her but she had just pushed him off and stood up, not wanting him to touch her. The pain of seeing him and Peyton kissing was still too fresh.

"Come on. I know you're still mad at me" he had begged "But I'm here for you. Alright, we'll go to the doctor tomorrow. In the city. I'll take you".

"I'll take myself".

"Brooke…" he was pleading. "I'm just as scared as you are. But I want to help. Please. Just, trust me".

And she had felt herself freeze up and hissed;

"Yeah cause that worked out so well for me the last time".

She calms her breathing, letting him think that she's falling to sleep, hoping that he will then opt to leave. He stays longer then she expects though, but after about half an hour he silently wriggles himself loose and leaves her alone in the darkness.

As she hears the bedroom door close behind him she realizes that she doesn't even know if Peyton has told him about her feelings yet. Knowing Peyton she probably hasn't. Peyton's is much too scared to put herself out there like that.

Brooke on the other hand didn't used to be scared. Not before she met Lucas. But she had given him his heart two times now and both times it's ended up shattered to pieces.

She pulls the covers tighter around her and before finally going to sleep she thinks;

"This time I' not going to put my heart out there for him, not even if life depends on it".

----

i know that this chapter portrayed Lucas' feelings much more than Brooke's but it was needed. Please review! And thanks agian to those of you that do...