The next day, Brooke was in the hospital waiting room bright and early, accompanied once again by Peyton. She had insisted that Lucas rest and that Haley, Nathan, and Jake attend school. She had tried to force her blonde best friend to as well, but Peyton had shrugged her off.

"If things were normal, we'd probably be ditching to go on the boat anyway," Peyton reasoned. "So you can cut the crap, Davis. I'm sitting with you all damn day if I have to."

Brooke had smiled gratefully and put her head on Peyton's shoulder. The two girls remained in contemplative silence for half an hour before Brooke suddenly broke it.

"Peyton, yesterday, when Luke brought up junior year-"

Peyton groaned. "Brooke, that's ancient history."

"But it isn't," Brooke said, her voice somewhat defeated. "It was only a year ago."

Peyton heaved a sigh, realizing that Brooke was right. "I guess you're right. We really swept it under the rug, didn't we?"

"At least we tried," Brooke shrugged. "But Lucas brought it up yesterday and it all came back out for me. I've been trying not to think about it, with all this Chance stuff, but I can't help it."

Peyton took a deep breath. "Is there anything you want to know about it? Anything that unsettles you still?"

"I just don't know what happened," Brooke said after a moment. "The only thing I saw was on that webcam, and that was technically after we had broken up. I was able to put together the pieces but I didn't know the real story."

Peyton bit her lip nervously before answering. "Well, before you two started dating, he and I hooked up at that basketball banquet. He asked me to be with him and I turned him down, as you know. That day that we went to check on my dad, emotions were running really high. I'm still not sure how it happened, but we started kissing. When things escalated, his necklace got stuck in my hair and all of a sudden, he whispered your name. I was confused and he said that you had given him that necklace."

Brooke suddenly felt sick. He still wore that necklace. She made a mental note to demand that he remove it immediately. "Then what?"

"He said we should get going, and we did. We went back to you, and I felt horrible. But somehow, he kissed me again in the library one day."

"And you two had feelings for each other," Brooke whispered. "That's why he broke up with me after the accident. Why you went rushing out of the door when you heard-"

"Yeah," Peyton said gently. "But Brooke, it was so stupid. We didn't have real feelings for each other, not really. We both took what we had for granted."

Brooke took a deep breath and put on a brave face, but Peyton could see how broken her hazel eyes suddenly looked. Her phone started to ring and as she looked at it, her eyes darkened further, causing Peyton to wince.

"Hey," Brooke answered, her voice betraying her as it cracked. "No, no news yet. Peyton's here. I'll see you later. Yeah, you too. Bye."

"Brooke-"

"I'm fine, P. Sawyer," Brooke said with a crooked grin. "I shouldn't have asked."

"I shouldn't have done it," Peyton lamented. "It was a horrible, awful thing to do, Brooke, and I don't know how you forgave us both."

"To be honest, neither do I," Brooke said bluntly with a small shrug. "Maybe I don't, not really. Maybe I'll hold onto it forever. When I see you two together, I still feel cold. When you talk to his mom, when he looks at you, when you two talk about things that I'll never understand-"

"I'm so sorry," Peyton whispered. Her heart was squeezing in her chest uncomfortably, a feeling she had come to know quite often as guilt. "I was a horrible friend to you, but I'm trying to be better."

"You have been," Brooke said encouragingly. "But to be honest, I don't think I'll ever forget what happened. I'll always be insecure."

"I understand that."

"And part of me will probably always resent you," Brooke said sadly. "I don't want to, but I do. And the more I ignore it, the worse it gets."

Peyton swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, standing quickly as Dr. Grant approached.

"Well, it looks like we're in luck," he said with a smile. "Chance's brain waves are now responsive. She's still not awake, but it looks like she should come out of this okay. If you'd like to go sit with her, you can."

"Thank you so much," Brooke said, and Peyton was unsure if the tears streaming down her face were from their conversation or from relief. The topic was dropped as Peyton struggled to keep up with Brooke's rushing steps.

When she entered the room, Brooke immediately went to the chair beside Chance's bed, holding her small hand and running a hand over her small bald head. Peyton sat at the foot of the bed, watching the scene unfold and marveling in the true care that Brooke had for the little girl who had no real relation to her.

A cold cough interrupted the moment, causing both girls to turn around. A woman who looked remarkably like Victoria was standing in the doorway, with perfectly coiffed dark hair and a designer day dress on.

"Excuse me, who are you?"

"I'm Brooke Davis," Brooke said defiantly. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Chance's mother," the woman said coolly. "And I think you're leaving."

Brooke scoffed and Peyton couldn't help but chuckle a bit under her breath. "Oh, this should be good."

"Her mother? You have a lot of nerve, calling yourself that."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," Mrs. Heatherly said haughtily.

"I think you know exactly what I mean," Brooke hissed. "You have done nothing for your daughter other than pay her medical bills. She has been struggling, dying, and you haven't had the time to just take her to a movie. I'm the one who took her wig shopping. I cut off my own hair so that she could feel pretty. She is five years old, and she deserves to feel loved. You think you can waltz in here and call yourself her mother? You can't. You are disgusting."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to call security," Mrs. Heatherly sniffed, ignoring everything Brooke had just said.

"Go for it," Brooke shrugged. "Every guard in this hospital knows me by first name. Not only am I a patient, but my boyfriend and I spend nearly all of our time with your daughter, and you don't even know who I am!"

"Yes, well, I certainly never would have approved of her associating with the likes of you. You're trailer trash."

"I am a Davis," Brooke hissed. Mrs. Heatherly flinched and Brooke smirked. It reminded Peyton powerfully of the first time she had ever seen Brooke use that phrase, against their third grade teacher who had threatened to send her to the principal's office. That sentence held a lot of weight in Tree Hill. "If I recall, you're not even a member of the country club, are you? Oh right, you aren't. You don't even live west of Fourth. I would think before you call someone trailer trash, you never know who they might be."

Mrs. Heatherly took in a shaky breath. Peyton wasn't even bothering to hide her grin anymore as she leaned back, enjoying the show.

"If I were you, I would turn around and walk out of here. I would go get your daughter a nice little present, and cancel every single thing you have planned for the next thirteen years, because your daughter needs you," Brooke said, stepping in to the woman's face and staring her in the eyes. "And if you can't do that, I will. And I will be sure to call Social Services and let them know that you are a negligent, incompetent parent to this sick little girl."

"She has wanted for nothing," Mrs. Heatherly finally argued back. "I have done nothing but give her what she needs."

"What she needs?" Brooke asked incredulously. "What she needs is a mother who loves her! To hold her after chemo! To tell her that everything is going to be okay even if it might not be. She needs someone to put on a brave face for her and tell her that they will do anything to make sure she's okay. And for the last six months, that person has been me. I will continue to be that person, and nothing you can say or do will stop me. So make your choice, Mrs. Heatherly. Either shape up or lose your daughter."

Mrs. Heatherly stared at the young woman before turning on her heel and storming out of the room without a second glance at her daughter. Brooke remained standing, huffing and glaring with her hands on her hips. Peyton slowly began to clap.

'That was an impressive performance," Peyton cheered. "Oscar worthy, for sure."

Brooke shot her a look. "I hate that woman."

"You do realize there's no way Social Services would ever take Chance away from her mom though, right?" Peyton said tentatively.

"Of course," Brooke said, waving her off. "Do you have any idea how many times I called them on my own parents? I was fed, clothed, and kept relatively healthy. Happiness isn't really part of the equation."

Peyton reached out to squeeze Brooke's hand. "Well, you always have us. Just like Chance does."

"She'll never be without family, that's for sure," Brooke said, looking down at the little girl with a tender smile. "We're crazy and dysfunctional, but we're one of the best families you could ever ask for."

"You bet we are," Peyton agreed.

"Brooke?" a little voice croaked.

"Oh, sweetie!" Brooke exclaimed, kissing her on the forehead excitedly. "I'm so glad you're awake. Peyt, go get Dr. Grant."

"Hi Peyt," Chance croaked.

"Hi gorgeous," Peyton replied. "I'll be right back."

"Where's Lucas?" Chance asked.

"He's at home resting, he had surgery yesterday, too," Brooke teased.

"Did it work?" Chance asked sweetly.

"We don't know yet, Little Bit," Brooke said. "We'll know in the next few weeks."

"Okay," Chance said, rubbing her eyes. "I'm sleepy."

"You've been asleep for almost two whole days," Brooke teased. "You're a regular Sleeping Beauty!"

Dr. Grant entered the room and asked Brooke to step outside while he ran some tests. The brunette stepped into the hallway, shooting Peyton a grateful smile as she dialed Lucas.

"Hey Luke," she said. "Chance woke up!"

"That's great!" he exclaimed over the line. "Is something wrong, babe?"

She swallowed hard, glad he couldn't see her face fall over the phone. "Everything's fine, really."

"You don't seem right," Lucas said cautiously. "Did I do something to upset you?"

"No," Brooke lied. "Nothing at all."

"If you're sure," he said slowly. "I'm gonna ask Nathan to drive me to the hospital to visit Chance after he gets out of school."

"If you're sure you're up to it," Brooke said softly. "See you soon."

"I love you, Brooke," he said quickly. He waited, thinking she had hung up.

"Yeah, you too. Bye."

Lucas sat in the bed he had been sharing with Brooke at her house, staring down at his phone with shock. What had just gone wrong?

Hours later, he arrived at the hospital on his crutches with Nathan in tow.

"Hey baby girl!" Lucas exclaimed, offering her a pastel pink teddy bear. She squeeze it excitedly and reached up her arms to hug him.

"Thank you Lucas!" she squealed. "And thank you for your bones, too."

Lucas laughed at her misunderstanding and grinned at her. "You're very welcome, princess."

"I'm gonna go get some coffee," Brooke said suddenly, standing from where she had been silently seated. Nathan raised his eyebrows at Lucas, who nodded at him before telling Chance he would be right back and hobbling after her.

"So," Chance said, crossing her arms over her small chest. "I hear you're going to be a dad."

"You've heard right," Nathan chuckled.

"Here are some things you have to know," she said sternly, waving a finger at him. "First of all, brussel sprouts are gross. They're old people vegetables and no one should ever have to eat them."

"I'll keep that in mind," Nathan said, holding back laughter as he nodded. "Go on."

"Second, make sure you eat dinner with them every night and you're always home to tuck them in when it's time for bed. That's real important."

Nathan felt his heart twist at the obvious absence of her parents in her life, but nodded anyway for her to continue.

"And third, make sure they have awesome older people like you and Haley and Lucas and Brooke and Peyton and Jake so that they never feel lonely and they always feel like they have friends and family and parents."

"Of course," Nathan smiled, squeezing her little hand. "My son's going to have all of those people in his life. And you know who else he's going to have?"

"Who?" Chance asked, and she looked almost jealous. He smiled, tapping her on the nose.

"You, Missy! He'll have his Auntie Chance to show him how the world works."

"I get to be his auntie?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course you do," Nathan said with a smile. "We all love you, kid. You're our family."

Nathan had never seen a smile so wide on such a small face, and it filled his heart up to see it. Meanwhile, Lucas was struggling to keep up with Brooke. When he finally caught up to her, she was cursing at the coffee machine, having obviously burned herself.

"Brooke, please, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she hissed, sucking on her burned hand. "I'm just fucking fine."

"You're obviously not!"

Her eyes narrowed in on his neck and they narrowed accusingly, darkening with pain.

"Take off that stupid necklace," she hissed.

"What?" he yelped. "Brooke, you gave this to me, I love this necklace. You know I never take it off."

"Yeah, unfortunately for you," Brooke spat. "Really cock blocked you with Peyton."

Lucas's face fell. "Brooke, I am so sorry, but that was over a year ago."

"It hurts just the same," she whispered, and he felt his heart break just like it had the first time she had said those words to him.

"Brooke, I love you," he choked out. "I love you so, so much. And I was such an idiot. I hate myself so much for what I did, you have to know that. Sometimes I can't even look myself in the eye in the mirror if I think about it for too long, because I hurt the most beautiful, amazing, truly wonderful woman. But I am never going to make that mistake again, I promise you that. I need you to keep trusting me, Brooke. I know it's been hard for you, and Nathan told me what I said yesterday-"

"Yeah. That sucked."

"I'm sure it did," Lucas agreed urgently. "But you have to understand, I never would have brought that up in a right state of mine. That's completely unfair to you, to even mention it. I'm really trying my best, and I really hope you can keep trying to trust me even if you know more details than you did back then."

Brooke took a deep breath and nodded, giving him a gentle kiss. "Thank you, Lucas."

"For what?" he asked , his eyes still shut from the kiss.

"For fighting for me this time around," she shrugged. "It hasn't gone unnoticed."

"Anything for you," he grinned. She smiled back and nodded her head down the hall.

"Now come on, Wobbly, let's get back to our girl."

I cranked this one out for you guys pretty fast! I know I kept you all waiting for such a long time, and the story is almost coming to a close! I promise I have SO many more great Brucas ideas, all of which are AU of course. I really hope you'll read anything else I do in the future, and I'm so happy so many have you have stuck with me on this!