Please don't lose faith in me, I will get there…slowly but surely so hang in there with me please. I was not 100 percent satisfied with this chapter but I think it conveys most of what I wanted to so here it is. Hopefully this is a taste of the Brucas interaction people have been waiting for.

Thank you to everyone that reviewed (and sent messages). It is all appreciated and keeps me motivated. Enjoy!

xxxx

Brooke sat sprawled on the couch. Her day had been particularly uneventful. She had worked her shift at the diner, come home, and made dinner for herself and Lucas. Both had managed to eat two spoonfuls of the burnt pasta before agreeing that ordering a pizza was a necessity.

The box now lay empty on the table in front of her. Lucas on the other end flipping through the channels.

"Let's do something," he said out of the blue, while sitting up with determination. They had spent too many evenings like this. It was peaceful but he wanted to get out, get Brooke out of the house. He wanted to walk around, stretch his legs, and explore the town with the girl he had once known so well.

"What are you talking about?"

"Why are we just sitting here doing nothing? Come on, let's go somewhere."

"Lucas, its eight on a Tuesday, there is nowhere to go in this town."

He dawned a look of deep thought. She did have a point. Tree Hill didn't offer much entertainment which had of course led to his youth being filled with either books or neighbor's hot tubs. Neither was an option now but he still wanted to do something. Finally he remembered a place that would always take him away, "I know somewhere we can go."

She gave him a doubtful look.

"Trust me."

"Seriously Lucas?"

He nodded while rising to his feet and moving towards her. He offered her a hand, "Yeah I'm serious. Let's get out of here."

She shook her head, and took his hand. Somehow Lucas always managed to convince her when she was unsure. Not that she needed much convincing; there was a part of her that wanted to get out of the house as well. She missed the spontaneity of her old life. She didn't live by strict timelines of locations and expectations of what was expected all her life. Being carefree had defined her once and she wished desperately she could regain that small part of herself, "Okay, you got me. Let's go take this town on..."

A smile on her face as she followed him out of the door.

xxxx

Every little thing I do
Trickles down and lands on you
I don't plan to get it wrong
Maybe keep your raincoat on

She got out of the car hesitantly, Lucas was already out and opening his trunk, to retrieve a basketball, she was sure.

She noted that Peyton's drawing of the comet and the words from his book were no longer painted on the court. She didn't acknowledge the change but wondered whose decision it had been to remove the declaration of love.

"River court? This is your idea of something fun?"

Lucas closed the trunk and gave her an expression she quickly understood, "Okay, let me rephrase, you thought I would have fun here?"

She asked him the second question while walking to the side of the court, her hands buried deep in her pockets. The light off the river made the court look serene and welcoming like she had never noticed before.

He gave a laugh, "Yeah, I figured I could show you some new moves, work on your jump shot." He noticed her expression watching the river and the court. He came to stand beside her, basketball bouncing back and forth in his hands, "It's beautiful this time of year."

He turned to watch her for a moment and their eyes met. He felt short of breath for a moment and couldn't understand why. And then Brooke broke the stare and walked on to the court, a grin upon her face, "I should have known better when you said I should bring tennis shoes."

Oxygen filled his lungs once again allowing a thought to form. "It could be worse; I could have brought Jaime to kick your but."

"I'll show you my game face Scott…" she said while turning to face him, "Since this was not my choice it's gonna be my rules. We play a game of horse. Last person to make it out is the pro here. And one more thing, I decide where we shoot from."

He shrugged his shoulders he knew this court like the back of his hand. He had no worries, "Sounds good to me. But let's make it a little more interesting. How about for every shot we miss we have to tell the other person something we haven't told anyone before."

She glanced up into his eyes wondering what he was getting at, "And why would we do that?"

He dribbled the ball a few times before looking at her, "I just want to get to know you again Brooke Davis."

He knew she had a lot of secrets. The Brooke before him was not as open with her life and he missed knowing what was going on inside her head. Lately he felt her growing need for independence and though he was proud of all she had accomplished, he worried one day she would simply have her boxes packed and would be ready to move on with her life.

He had grown accustomed to their routine. To knowing she would be home when he got there, making a fresh pot of coffee before leaving for work. He had grown to enjoy the presence of another and he worried what his house would feel like once she left. He had not liked the emptiness the house had offered him after Peyton had left. Though he had felt no relief when she was there either, there were long nights at the record studio and business trips that turned from days into weeks. Being with her had felt just like being alone at times.

He shook his head, trying to forget thoughts of Brooke's long absence. She had yet to mention it and he did not want to push her away himself.

"You have a deal Scott. Though let me warn you, I've been practicing my game."

He merely laughed, "Alright, where's the first shot from?"

She walked him over to the corner, along the three point line.

"Easy…" His hands dribbled the ball and then swiftly threw it up into the air. It fell in with a swoosh.

She playfully glared at him as he retrieved the ball and passed it to her. She dribbled as he had and took the shot. It bounced along the rim and fell into the basket.

"Someone's been practicing," he said while retrieving the ball.

She gave him a sly smile, "I never told you what Jaime and I do on our afternoons together."

She walked to another area of the court, slightly further out but a specific shot she had mastered a few weeks ago after endless practice shots with her grandson.

He gave her another wistful look, "I can sink this in my sleep."

He lined up the shot though she took the opportune moment to adjust her shirt.

The ball hit the backboard and bounced off to the side of the court.
He shook his head knowing better than to have fallen for one of Brooke Davis's oldest tricks.

"Fine, I missed one. So a secret, huh?"

She nodded while lining up her own shot; she took it a moment later while he was still contemplating his secret. She sunk it without even hitting the net. Maybe he should have thought twice about the wager.

"Alright, but you can't tell anyone. I mean no one because I know you will want to."

She nodded her head, "Cross my heart."

"In third grade I wanted to be a dancer. We didn't get a lot of TV channels but some how we got rerun episodes of 'Soul Train.' I practiced every waking moment dreaming of being called by the great Don Cornelius. One day I was sitting with Keith when it came on and he was laughing and telling me how this show used to be on when he was a kid. That's when I realized it wasn't live and that disco was not still in. I picked up a basketball after that."

Brooke managed to hold back her laugher to ensure Lucas he was not wrong in sharing the secret with her, though she ws unable to keep a wide grin from appearing on her face, "I have to see your disco moves."

He shook his head, "Never gonna happen Cheery, never gonna happen."

She smiled at hearing her old nikcname, it had been a long time since she had heard it and it brought back memories of a better time. And it made her feel better about things.

"Fine…but one day Lucas, I'm gonna trick you into some disco."

He gave a soft laugh, "Try your best."

Brooke strutted to another spot she had memorized and put the ball through the hoop with ease.

"You know this is pretty much cheating."

She stuck her tongue out in a joking manner, "You agreed to the terms Lucas. Not my fault that you can't play the game."

He took a stance by the spot Brooke had pointed out. It was an easier shot than the one he had missed earlier but still one he did not shoot regularly.

He took a quick breath and took the shot. It went in. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your turn Davis. Let's see if you bring it."

She gave an overdone cheerleader pose "Oh Lucas, it's already been broughten," nearly falling over with laughter after delivering the line.

"Oh man Brooke. Way to bring back the lame high school movie lines."

"You know you love it."

He dribbled the ball and passed it to her, "You got me. Guily pleasure," he winked at her.

She lined up her own shot as Lucas had and sank it swiftly.

He realized now, this would be a much longer game than he had originally anticipated.

xxxx

It was another spot on the court that Lucas fumbled.

"Pay up," she extended her hand forward as though expecting a payment.

"Alright, alright. Another secret?"

She nodded enthusiastically, hoping for something as juicy as his confession of being a disco king.

"Alright, let me think." He spun the ball loosely in his hands. He gave a sigh, and looked at Brooke, deeply contemplating the thought.

He debated what to tell her. Thus far they had laughed and passed the ball back and forth with a light hearted ease. Neither had revealed anything shocking or unimaginable. Brooke's hate of Myrtle Beach originating with a less than pleasent encounter with a jelly fish had been as real as they had gotten. He wondered now if he should delve deeper and reveal a part of himself he had kept protected. He hoped it would prompt her to reciprocate. To open up and reveal to him the part of herself she had always kept hidden from the world.

It was what Dr. Fields had been pushing her to do in their sessions. To open up and let someone in all the way, he wanted desperately to be that person. He knew she was hesitant, that the task scared her beyond everything else because no one had ever seen the Brooke Davis under it all. He supposed Peyton had come closest having grown up with Brooke and seen the way her home life had been. But a distance had grown between them over time. The secrets she kept now Peyton would not know. He was probably the only other one who had come close to knowing who Brooke Davis might be but he had lost the ability to decipher her inner thoughts years ago.

Finally he conceded to share the secret he was holding back, the ball still spinning loosely in his hands "Sometimes I worry I'll be a one hit wonder. That Ravens will be all that I'm ever known for…"

"Lucas, there's no way that could happen. You have too much talent for that ever to happen."

He shrugged, dribbling the ball nervously, finding little comfort in the placating activity, "It doesn't feel like that. It feels like a fluke, like I was young and there were people to take my words and make them something special. And now there's nothing."

He remembered the numerous edits, Lindsey's loopy scrawl across every page, thick red marks cutting out large chunks of this book. He worried that was what made it beautiful, not his original thoughts.

"Lucas, your words, without anyone's help, are too powerful to not be shared, they changed lives. Made people believe in something they never believed in before."

"Sometimes they don't feel like my words. They tore it apart Brooke. I don't recognize it sometimes and I wonder if maybe the reason it became so famous was because someone else wrote it. Someone fixed my idea into something sellable. What I wrote was different; it wasn't a neat story that fit into a box. I want to be known for something that was mine not something that was put together in meetings by publishers."

She brought herself closer to him, coming to a stand in front of him to emphasize her words, "They were still your words. They may have changed a little but that story is yours and the only reason people felt connected to it was because of you. Don't give that away so easily."

He pulled her into a hug, letting the ball drop and roll off. The conversation had drained him of what energy he had left.

"Thanks for that Brooke. I needed to hear that."

"I thought maybe you did. When the moment is right, it'll come together, I promise."

He felt the tension ease; she always knew what to say to him. Though she had never thought it strength, Brooke was just as good with words as he. Maybe even better he sometimes thought.

"It's getting pretty late, lets head back."

"So you are admitting defeat Lucas Scott?" Her serious tone replaced with a playful one. He didn't mind too much. He wished she had opened up more but it was a process. Slow and steady.

"Yeah, I guess I am. It was bound to happen eventually you know. This old heart of mine just can't keep up with you."

She gave him a playful shove walking back to the car, a genuine smile upon her face.

She stared out the window on the drive home, her face away from his eyes so he could not interpret the thoughts running through her.

It wasn't till they were nearly at the house that she turned towards him, there was something she was holding back and he saw her conflicted as he was earlier.

Finally she spoke as he put the car in park in the driveway. "While I was gone Lucas, I read your book everyday and it gave me comfort. It told me to believe in something. That there was something out there for me. Don't lose that faith you gave to others."

She got out of the car and made her way into the house. Lucas remained where he was, unsure what to make of her confession.

He relished knowing he brought her comfort during a dark time but he worried too what his words may have led her to believe.

Sometimes he wondered about the story that was in that book. The fairytale his editors had crafted from a book about a boy with two loves in his short life. Somehow only one love had made it into the final draft and it always troubled him. There were hundreds of emails he had saved from his back and forths with Lindsey but she had been unrelenting. No one wanted confusion; Cecily von Ziegesar had already taken on teen love triangles and sold millions. If he wanted his book taken seriously he'd sign off on the final draft. And so he conceded and much of the story that made him the man he was fell to the wayside for a book that was sure to top the bestsellers list. Even if it went from fact to fiction in the process.

An Unkindness of Ravens had decided his destiny but the book was now in the past. He could now write of a new future. Maybe that was would finally put an end to the ache in his own heart.

Even just one small mistake
Something ripples in the wake
When I say you're face is so bright
Makes me wanna do every little thing right

xxxx

Melanie Doane

Was it okay? I've had this saved for a while but was not sure if it was up to par. Hopefully it conveys all that it was meant to. Good news is I have the next few chapters mapped out so the updates will be sooner rather than later. There will be Bramie and Brucas-with Peyton thrown in after a few chapters as well.

Thank you as always for reading and if you have a moment I'd love a review of what you thought.