Author's note: Again, you are all insanely sweet for sending me so many wonderful reviews. Every time one pops up in my inbox, I get so happy! (Thank you's at the end)
This chapter mostly revolves around Brooke and Lucas, and I know that many of you like it when I add more Naley-scenes, but they will soon be involved much more. I'm also sorry for the never ending basketball-references in this chapter and the next one, but a championship is a big thing… oh, well. You'll understand. ;)
The title of this chapter is from a Devics-song.
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CHAPTER 20 – Song For A Sleeping Girl
Nine days has past since the confrontation with the principal and today is Thursday, the day before the championship. Brooke catches up with Haley halfway down the school corridor and links her arm with hers.
"Guess what I did last night?" she says happily. "I'll tell you; I had sex with Lucas…"
Brooke looks so excited that Haley has to laugh. "And this is news in what way Brooke? Having sex anywhere and all the time is kind of like yours and Lucas' trademark, isn't it?"
"Lately, actually no. First because of the Doctor's orders, you know… and then because I haven't really seen him this week because of Whitey's extra practices" She pretends to look sad but then the huge grin is back on her face. "But last night, I'm telling you…" she lowers her voice into a whisper, "…last night was amazing. I'm actually thinking of letting him be deprived more often. It does wonders, you know."
"Like you could ever do that!" Haley says and rolls her eyes. "One would think that being over four months pregnant would slow you down a bit but then again…"
She keeps laughing as they start walking towards their lockers, and Brooke pretends to be offended.
"We actually don't do that all the time you know! Occasionally we just make out…"
They join Rachel and Mouth in the cafeteria for lunch and they're all talking over one another. Peyton is actually at the table too but she silently draws in her sketchpad and doesn't really seem to notice the others. Mouth is trying to keep Rachel from telling them about some guy she slept with the night before and Brooke is busy telling Haley about her ideas for a prom-dress. She has just informed Haley that she has found suits for Lucas and Nathan when Rachel breaks in.
"Where are the guys by the way?"
Haley puts the last piece of her sandwich in her mouth and leans back in the chair.
"I don't know and frankly I'm glad to have some time away from Nathan… He just keeps trailing after me nowadays. It's starting to drive me insane… He's all 'touchy feely' and I'm just too tired…"
Brooke raises an eyebrow, looking confused.
"What do you mean? Isn't that a good thing? Then he can give you a back-rub or a footmassage…"
But Haley just sighs and blushes a little. "Lets just say that he's interested in more than that and I'm not really feeling that right now. Can't he just get the fact that I'm five months pregnant?"
Brooke really doesn't understand what Haley is saying. So? She is pregnant too, and she is tired off and on as well, especially since she has taken a lot of Haley's shifts at the café these last couple of days, yet the last couple of weeks had almost driven her insane. And even though she had gotten Lucas to give her a repeat of last night this morning, she already missed him.
"Okay… Stop complaining!" she says and takes a sip from her Snapple. "I don't know about you Tutor-wife, but I need sex, even more than I need shopping. For a while there I was seriously starting to doubt if me and Lucas were ever going to have it again. He was so stubborn! And now I'm actually starting to hate basketball…"
She taps her Ugg-boot against the cement, feeling annoyed just by thinking of it, and Mouth rolls his eyes and covers his ears as if the entire discussion is bothering him. Rachel laughs and nudges him playfully before turning back to Brooke.
"You're such a nymphomaniac… Aren't you supposed to be all 'ickey' about the sex-thing when you're pregnant?"
Peyton opens her mouth for the first time and sighs as she gets up. "It's Brooke you're talking about, Rachel… What did you really expect?"
Brooke sticks her tongue out towards Peyton's back before turning to Rachel.
"Why don't you just shut up Rach! If I'm a nymphomaniac, then you are… well… worse!"
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Lucas and Nathan are on the other side of school, spending their lunch-hour in the weightlifting-room. A week ago Nathan had decided that they both needed to crank up their work out schedule before the championship and Lucas yawns as he helps his brother to get the heavy weightlifting-pole back in place. Nathan sits up and wipes his forehead with his t-shirt.
"Dude, what's up with you today? You look like you haven't slept at all…"
Lucas grins at his brother sheepishly. "No, but it was for a good cause. My girlfriend needed me…"
Nathan sees the grin and shakes his head. "You lucky bastard…"
"Yeah, I know… but I have to ask you something though… Has Haley been acting strange lately?"
"You know Hales, she acts strange all the time… But if you're going to ask me if she has become like your girlfriend, wanting to spend every single minute in bed with me, then no. I'm not that lucky."
Lucas scratches the back of his head. "Well, apart from that… Brooke and my mom have been rearranging our house entirely, so much that I can't even find my stuff anymore. And at four o'clock this morning I found Brooke eating left-over steak in the kitchen…"
Nathan laughs, reassuring him that Haley too craves a lot of strange things lately but Lucas frowns.
"She also has these reoccurring nightmares…"
"About what?"
"I'm not sure, she doesn't want to talk about it. But it's almost every night now and she seems really scared…"
And it does worry him. Ever since Brooke's hospital-stay she woke up in the middle of the night and he had to hold her for at least twenty minutes before she went back to sleep. Usually she mumbled some incoherent stuff about the baby or her parents but lately it didn't really sound truthful, more like she didn't want to tell him the real content of her bad dreams.
Nathan shrugs. "I have no idea about that one bro… Maybe she's just nervous about the game tomorrow night. I know I am…"
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Later that night Lucas is down by the Rivercourt. It's dark outside but the park is lit up by the surrounding streetlights and he dribbles the ball, letting it bounce from his left hand to his right and then back again. Brooke is at the gym having a late practice with her squad and without her company at home he had just paced back and forth nervously until his mother bluntly asked him to take his excessive energy outside.
So now he's been shooting free-throws for an hour and the tingling nervousness is almost gone. He has a couple of more baskets to make, then he's driving over to the school to pick Brooke up. She would probably be tired but he looks forward to just lie on the sofa with her and watch some crappy girl-movie. They have hardly had any time with each other the last week, with all the practices after school, and the latest nights had mostly been spent with either him or Brooke helping out at the café, since Haley was now too tired to stand for hours.
And even though Brooke had persuaded him into being late for school this morning, he misses just hanging out with her.
The sound of a car makes him look over at the road but then he turns back and keeps shooting. And when the soft crunching of the Rivercourt's gravel alerts Lucas of the other person's presence, he doesn't turn to face the man walking towards him. He knows its Dan, he just doesn't want to acknowledge him until he has to.
He hasn't seen Dan in a month and he'd rather keep it that way. So instead he picks up the bouncing ball and twirls it in his hands before bending his knees and making the three-point jumpshot. The ball goes straight through the hoop, the net making a swooshing sound and Dan claps his hands behind him.
"I see you're not totally worthless son. You must have gotten better since I last saw you…"
As usual Dan's voice is condescending and sarcastic.
"…But then people tell me that you've been missing a lot of practices lately and I'm guessing it's because you've played house with little Miss Davis. Why didn't you tell me? One would think that I deserve to hear about becoming a grandfather from my son himself…"
Lucas clenches his jaw and takes the next shot before answering. The ball goes through, just as the last one, but this time he lets it roll off without catching the rebound. Then he turns to face the man that he would always refer to as Dan or 'Nathans father'. After so many years of knowing the truth he still can't make himself call him 'dad'.
"I really don't see how any of this is your business, since you've never been my father for real, but yes, Brooke and I are having a baby."
Dan chuckles and rolls his eyes. "Lucas, my son. Always the little moralist… So that scare last year wasn't enough for the two of you? You just had to follow in your stupid brother's footsteps and ruin your life as well…"
Feeling the anger creep through his body, Lucas looks away. "Nathan made the right choice, but I'm not surprised that you don't understand that. Your decisions are known to suck so…"
He stops talking when he hears Dan's laugh and he thinks of the last time he talked to him about maybe fathering a child. It had been at the dealership just before he found out that Brooke really wasn't pregnant that first time.
"Interesting… You always made me out to be the bad guy." Dan said and smirked. "Maybe you'll judge me a little different from now on…"
Lucas sighed tiredly. "Spare me your lectures."
"Oh, I'm just trying to give you the benefit of my experience."
"In what? Fathering a child, or abandoning one?" His voice had risen in anger but Dan still smiled viciously.
"It seems to me you're one mistake away from both…"
"Yeah, well… one's an accident. The other one's a choice."
He's just about to remind Dan about that little conversation and to tell him that this was his choice. The baby Brooke is carrying might have been an accident when they conceived it, but it was no damn mistake. But then Dan speaks;
"I tried to make sure that your stupid decisions wouldn't affect the other poor little souls of Tree Hill High. We couldn't have a pregnant Cheerleader as captain. But the cleaver little girl found her way around it." Dan picks up the ball from the ground and spins it in his hands before continuing.
"She's quite the little manipulation-expert, isn't she? I was hoping that I wouldn't have to see her on court tomorrow but I heard that she got her squad back…"
"You bastard… You called the board meeting…"
Realizing it, he balls his fists unconsciously and takes a step towards Dan. He should have known when Brooke told him that the head of the board voted against her. As the mayor of Tree Hill, his father was the head of the school board. How could he have forgotten that?
The anger he's feeling inside is reaching the boiling point and he want's to hurt Dan. Knock the teeth out of his mouth for everything he has done to the people around him. For leaving his mother, setting Keith up with Jules and for almost ruining Nathan's and Haley's marriage. For everything Dan had done to him his entire life… and now for hurting Brooke.
Dan actually takes a step back, looking a little guarded.
"Now come on son, she did it all to herself… You must know that high school girls are like that. She just wants to trap you, that's why she got herself pregnant… just like your mom did with me."
"Shut up!" he hisses, but Dan is stupid enough to keep going.
"Don't you see it? Brooke and Haley both see that there might be money in yours and Nathan's collage-ball careers… And Brooke is accustomed to being rich, right?"
"I told you to shut up!"
He takes another step, closing the distance between himself and his father, and he grabs the front of his shirt. "If you say one more word about Brooke, I swear I'll kill you!"
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Brooke pushes the 'play'-button on the boom-box and shouts "Come on girls. Last time! If you nail this one you can all go home in time to watch the TRL-awards."
She counts them in and does the routine with them, but facing towards them so that she can see any misses they might make. Rachel does it spotlessly and Peyton, Carmen and Theresa are good. But Bevin and Michelle are still a bit off beat at the end.
"What do you think?" she shouts to Mouth who sits on the bench watching their practice.
"It looks good Brooke! Really good!"
She stops the music and claps her hands, making sure that she has a big smile on her face. "You hear that? Good work girls!"
It isn't as perfect as she would want it tomorrow night, but for now she decides to let it slide. They are all tired and it is good enough. She looks up at the watch on the wall and is surprised to see that it's already nine o'clock. Lucas was supposed to come pick her up half an hour ago.
She calls off practice and most of the girls trail off out of the gym, but Peyton walks over to her and smiles shyly. Since Peyton helped out with the Principal, Brooke had made an honest effort in being a little nicer to the blonde girl and now she was curios to hear what she wanted. Peyton just kept switching back and forth in her behavior, like when she dropped that comment earlier during lunch, and Brooke still wasn't sure what the girl's agenda was.
"Um… great practice Davis…" she says, keeping her eyes glued to the floor and Brooke mumbles 'thank you' and waits for Peyton to get to the point.
"Do you need a ride? I didn't see your car out front…"
Brooke sighs. "Look Peyt, it's nice of you to offer and everything, but us working together on the squad actually works for the first time in ages and I think we should just leave it there… Just because we're being civil doesn't really change things."
Peyton looks hurt and she doesn't really want to be mean to the girl, but this whole conversation just feels like déjà vu.
To explain she says; "Do you remember when we went to the Classics, junior year?" and Peyton looks back up at her.
"Yeah, we had to redo our entire routine and you won that award for best choreography…"
"Exactly… You know, I think about that weekend a lot… especially about when we got back and I saw you and Lucas talking in the parking-lot. You came over looking guilty and tried to mend things with some witty comment and I told you that however fun the weekend had been, we weren't friends anymore because of what you and Lucas did that first time…"
Peyton looks guarded, probably wondering where she was going with this.
"You said that even though I wasn't your friend anymore, you were still mine… And then you said that you were going to prove it to me…"
"Yeah I remember that… but what are you getting at Brooke?"
"Well I'm still waiting for you to do that. And even though you stuck up for me the other week, I'm not ready for car-pooling."
Peyton nods but she doesn't bother with a come-back. Instead she picks her bag up and throws it over her shoulder.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then" she says and Brooke nods back.
"Yeah I guess… And you're right, it was a great practice."
Rachel has stayed behind too and now she picks up her stuff from the floor. As the door closes behind Peyton, Rachel says "I figured that you didn't want to ride with her…"
Brooke turns towards the redhead. "It's not just that. Lucas has my car so I have to wait for him… But thanks."
"Okay, then I'll just wait with you."
Brooke breaks a smile. Rachel is more and more turning into her closest confidant. And what she likes so much about this is the way her friendships with Rachel and Haley compliment each other. She doesn't really need Peyton anymore. Haley is her rock now, her shoulder to lean on, whilst Rachel always make her laugh and makes her feel like she is allowed to act her age and have fun even though she's pregnant. But this doesn't mean that she doesn't miss Peyton now and again.
"That's nice of you but you don't have to do that" she says. "He'll be here any moment, actually he should have been here thirty minutes ago, and I'm sure you have some whipped little boy waiting for you, right slut?"
Smirking, she pulls the cord of the boom-box out of the wall and picks it up to put it away. But Rachel takes it out of her hands and carries the music-equipment over to the lockable storage room. Ignoring Brooke's last remark, she laughs;
"He's a half an hour late? The old Brooke would have just freaked out at that. What's wrong with you? Are you going soft on him?"
"I don't know, maybe I am…" She quirks an eyebrow, smiling meaningly. "He's just been so sweet…"
"Bullshit, Brooke. Admit it, you're just staying on his good side for sex."
And right then Lucas comes in through the door. She watches him walk over through the gym in his sweatpants and oversized hoody, and laughing she thinks that Rachel has a point. Every time she sees him she feels like flinging herself onto him. But Lucas' shoulders are tense and he has that squinty look he gets when he's angry. She's just about to whisper her answer to Rachel when she sees that the knuckles of his right hand are bleeding.
"Lucas! What happened?"
She rushes over to him but he shrugs away from her.
"It's okay Brooke… can we just go?"
"No! Tell me what happened! You're bleeding…"
He can't just waltz in here, being late and bleeding, she thinks. Not without explaining. His otherwise baby-blue eyes are indigo and the look in them worries her. Rachel sees it too and starts fidgeting with her towel.
"I'm off, you guys" she says and walks off. Brooke doesn't answer though. Instead she takes a step closer to Lucas and takes his wounded hand in hers.
"Luke…" she tries in a much softer voice and this time he sighs.
"I met Dan at the Rivercourt… and let's just say that he's not thrilled to be a grandfather."
Brooke gasps. "Dan did this to you?!"
But now Lucas suddenly looks amused. Even though his eyes are still darker than usual, a slight smile plays on his face.
"No, this happened when I hit him in the face."
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Brooke wakes up in the middle of the night from another one of her nightmares. This one hadn't been so bad but she still turns to cuddle up with Lucas and to find safety in his arms, but his side of the bed is empty and she looks around, still not really awake. It's dark but she can make out the contours of her boyfriend sitting in the chair by the window. Guessing that it's the events from earlier that are keeping him awake, she slides out of bed and tip-toes over to him.
"Why aren't you in bed?" she whispers, not wanting to wake up Karen. "It's getting cold without you…"
He smiles at her in the darkness and she throws one leg over his and sits down across his lap. She strokes his face gently and locks her eyes into his.
"Are you okay babe?"
He nods and pulls her closer to him before pressing his lips to her forehead. "I just couldn't sleep… I didn't mean to wake you."
She leans her head on his shoulder and feels his hand absentmindedly stroke her naked thigh. He must have been sitting here for a while because his hands are cold.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks, just like he had asked her so many times lately.
"Not really. I just feel bad for my mom… she doesn't deserve to worry about this on top of everything."
Brooke silently agrees. Karen had of course gone crazy when Lucas told her earlier and she had probably gone over to Dan's beach-house and hit him again if Lucas hadn't stopped her. And now she feels like hitting Dan herself. Not because of what Lucas told her about Dan setting up that schoolboard-meeting, well she was angry at that too, but mostly because he always was such an ass towards his sons. She had seen Nathan struggle under Dan's ruling for years and he was even worse with Lucas.
"She'll be okay Luke. But she's your mother… Of course she worries when you come home bleeding."
She thinks about the last time she saw Dan. It had been shortly after her parents came on their surprise visit, and one of the few times that she had been without Lucas. She had run into him on her way to Nathan and Haley's place and he had seemed to be in a bad mood.
"Hi Mr. Scott"
He looked at her seemingly angry. He squinted and she couldn't help but think that Lucas might have inherited that squinting from his dad. Although Dan looked like an evil snake when he did it.
"Brooke Davis…" he said slowly, as if tasting the name. "Haley isn't home."
She smiled her best smile towards him. "I know. I'm actually going over to see Nathan… He wants to surprise Haley with a prom-dress and I'm making it and he needs to give me some directions how he wants it to look because…"
She rambled as always when she was nervous. And Dan just made her uncomfortable, he always had. Of course Mr. Scott wasn't interested in why she was there, and he smirked.
"It's bad enough that you twisted the head of my younger boy long ago… Now lately I've been hearing rumors about your plan to trap my older one once and for all. I wish both of them could just see you girls for what you are…"
At first she wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but in the back of her head she already knew. Instead she fake-smiled again and turned on her high heels.
"You know what Mr. Scott? I just wish your sons didn't have to see you at all…"
Lucas' hand moves up to stroke calming circles on her back and she closes her eyes and just sits there for a while, savoring the feeling. As he starts speaking, the voice is barely more than a soft whisper.
"You had that nightmare again, didn't you?"
She nods against his chest but she's quick to reassure him that it wasn't that bad this time.
"Don't worry about it Broody… You have enough on your mind."
Looking up he rubs his nose against hers in a soft Eskimo-kiss. "I can't not worry Brooke. You've been having these dreams for weeks. I want to know what it is that has you so scared."
He always does this, she thinks. Comforting her when it should actually be the other way around. Like the other night when she was tired after working at the café and her raging hormones got the best of her. She had yelled at him for anything and everything before breaking down into a little pile of self-centered and winy tears. Lucas hadn't gotten angry, he hadn't yelled back or even told her to stop feeling so sorry for herself. Instead he had just picked her up from the floor and hugged her. She should probably have apologized for her behavior, but he ended up whispering apologizes to her for not seeing how tired she was.
She sighs and shakes her head, breathing in his scent. "It's nothing Luke. Really."
She can't explain to him that he is what scares her so much in her dreams. He just wouldn't understand. Every night he keeps popping into her dreamland and in the light versions, like tonight, then he just left her to deal with this pregnancy or their child alone, saying that he couldn't do it or that he was in love with someone else. But there were other nights when she woke up drenched in cold sweat after the vivid replay of him dying.
Sometimes it's in a car-crash. Other times he is the one getting shot in the school shooting.
But every time it's followed by her standing by a grave with a little baby in her arms, and she wakes up with the same feeling. The feeling that she just can't live without him.
She wants him here, with her, in the most unapologetic, greedily possessive way possible... She wants to make sure that he is safe and loved and that he knows, without question, how much she needs him in her life. But in a strange way, she is still afraid to say it. As if verbalizing it might just push him away. Instead she gets up, and when standing, she reaches out a hand to him.
"Come back to bed with me. You need sleep Lucas."
He takes her hand and slowly gets up as well. "Yeah…you're right" he says. "Tomorrow night will probably be pretty rough."
And when they're back under the covers and she's snuggled up in the space between his neck and shoulder, she can't help but wonder if he's talking about the championship game or the fact that he ones again has to run into his father.
"I'm sorry that Dan treated you that way… You deserve so much better Luke."
"I don't need 'better'… I have the best… you."
He trails the skin of her belly with his finger and lowers his voice even more. "Some fairytales end badly Brooke, but this isn't one of them." Laying a chaste kiss just above her navel, his eyes refuse to release hers. "I promise."
The night is still and the moonlight seeps in through the blinds, and as he crawls back up and settles beside her, it falls on his face. Her eyelids flutter frantically as she fights to keep her gaze fixed on him but finally sleep wins and her eyes close. As her breathing evens out she keeps hearing his words;
I promise.
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Author's note: Can you feel it build? LOL. Next chapter is the State Championship, so get ready for loads of basketball.
I think I need some reviews first though. ;)
/Lynn
Thank you's:
pOoLbEeRtAtToOs: You SO are my favorite reader! And I'm not 'the shit', you are. Look at that insanely long review, huh. I mean what more can I ask for? lol. Simply nothing. Hopefully you liked this chapter as well.
Wishinonastar: I'm doing (silent) cheers at your review since I'm at scrawny's bedside in the hospital, but as always; You KNOW exactly how to write them, don't you? lol
B. Davis: You know I miss BL-hotness too… so I'm hiding in the world of fanfiction until Mark stops being a complete ass. ;)
BrownEyes1980: Again, loved the review and a huge thank you for posting my story-link on fanforum. It's an honor! ;)
BreezeBlownBy: Yeah, Brooke is irresistible, isn't she? lol And maybe I'll just be a pal and give you threatening and ominous soon…
jeytonbrucasnaley: I agree with you, some Brucas-moments are in fact NEEDED. Why can't Mark see that?
Eemah: The forgiving of P.Saywer might take a while more… ;) Brooke is quite stubborn you know…
Bucas46Forever: I'm blushing at all those adjectives… and I'm so glad you think it progresses nicely. My sleeve holds a few more tricks though…
oth rox: Your review was soo sweet.
Tiffany Rae: No, thank YOU! and if you say so, then I might just throw some more smut int there now and again, lol. And look out for some more Karen/Brooke-moments ahead.
courtneylovejason: I'll see what I can do in the upcoming chapters…lol
truelovedoesnotexist, Brucas3, tardychick, Brookeleighgilmore, Whatfunny, Dolcegrazia, McNerdy, catcat51092, piper-h-99, Prettygirlandboyfriend, Katie and CC: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!