-X-

-Wednesday- (You went away)

-X-

Lucas woke up the next day completely refreshed and ready to tackle the day. Sighing with regret Lucas expertly extracted himself until he was successful and was standing beside the bed, watching her sleep. She now lay on her back; her head resting on her left arm, her mouth slightly ajar as deep even breaths came in a steady stream.

Staring down at her unguarded all he could think was: Damn she was unbearably beautiful.

Once completely dressed Lucas grabbed a notepad and wrote her a quick note should she wake up before he got back then grabbed his wallet and both the room key and his car keys then walked out the room, making sure to lock up behind himself.

Lucas stopped at Country Best's restaurant intent on getting a now late breakfast for Brooke.

At first the hostess stood still with a interested grin but then said professionally, "Hello welcome to CB's table or a booth?"

"Neither. I want to order to go."

"Sure. Here's a menu. I'll be back in a jiffy."

His cellphone rang and he answered without hesitation, "Hello?"

"What the hell was with you last night? Were you drunk?" Haley asked with a laugh, still thinking about that video he had sent her. "Nathan's still cracking up over it."

"As are you I see." he chuckled as he perused the menu. "But Brooke dared me."

"Ohh Truth or dare…I kinda figured that. What did you do to get her back?"

Lucas chuckled again then answered, "I dared her to do the moonwalk in her kitchen and send it to her mother. But here's the best part…she had on lingerie while she did it."

Haley guffawed, "God that must have been priceless!"

"It was." he said while laughing, but then his call was interrupted. "Hey sis I'll call you back. I have a call coming in."

"Okay…call me back."

Lucas switched calls then said, "Hello?"

"Hey Luke I have another assignment for you…"

-x-

He kissed her forehead, unable to stop himself. "Uh, I brought some breakfast for you..."

"Aren't you the sweetest best friend in the world?!" she said groggily with a dimpled smile as she stretched.

Lucas eyes traveled to her rising breast and he had to turn away. He needed to get out of there before he did something foolish. Like pinning her to the bed and... He shook his head ending the impromptu daydream. By this time Brooke had gotten out of bed and gone into her bathroom.

"I'm gonna take a hot shower. And can you please hand me my outfit on the bed? I forgot it…" she shouted.

"Uh yeah sure..." He grabbed the red and white outfit that she had set out and brought it to her. His eyes steadfastly on her unique eyes.

She smiled brightly, "Thanks! I'll be out in minute."

Lucas snorted, "Aka an hour or so?"

Brooke rolled her eyes and answered, "Noo...ten minutes or so."

"Okay I'm holding you to that." He called after she closed the door.

Sitting on the bed he clicked on the T.V and turned to his favorite channel Natgeo Wild. He got comfortable as he saw his favorite animal the mighty lion squaring off with a cheetah.

He liked the lion because they were gangstas of nature. They hunted in packs and took what they wanted and ruled the animal kingdom with an iron fist.

Lucas barely noticed Brooke sitting beside him, engrossed in what he was watching.

"Wow...I love this channel! Wildest animal fights is my favorite!"

"Oh yeah? I had no idea. What's your favorite animal?"

She smiled and said, "Crocodiles."

"Crocs? Really?" He asked as he handed her a Styrofoam tray.

"Yeah...crocodiles are vicious amphibians. Very possessive of their territory. It even defeated a python." She said before digging into her scrambled eggs.

Lucas was amazed. It was funny to him because besides lions—crocodiles were high on his favorite predator list as well.

"But it died too though." Lucas pointed out, remembering seeing that story somewhere.

"It still defeated it. Which is impressive of itself. No other animal could kill a predator like that." Brooke said with pride then finished off a sausage link.

Lucas smirked, "Normally girls wouldn't be caught dead watching anything that has to do with nature."

Brooke rolled her eyes at that last statement. "So what do you want to do?" She asked after finishing her delicious breakfast. "I have an hour before I have to go into work."

He exhaled then sat down next to her and said, "I'm sorry Brooke but I gotta fly out today on assignment. I gotta go to Montana for a two day shoot but I will be back by Friday."

Brooke looked at him angrily, "Are you serious?! But you just got back Luke!" she whined.

"I know, I know but it's only two days. Then when I'm back we can do whatever you want."

She nodded, still disappointed that he was leaving again. "Well at least it's not an entire two weeks this time."

-x-

Brooke closed her eyes and sighed, trying to calm her bumbling nerves through her body as she walked the halls of Kismet. It was like she was the newbie again the way everyone were staring at her. Chase was the first to greet her with a genuine smile. "Hey Davis."

"Hey Adams." She said as she made her way to her desk.

"How the hell did you get a promotion?" Chase asked, taking his customary spot on her desk.

"Maybe because I deserve it? After all I was doing Rachel's work for a long time. Will you please remove your ass from my desk so I can get to work?" Brooke scolded playfully, knowing that that wasn't going to happen.

She noticed everyone was still looking at her strangely. "Um Chase?"

"Yea doll?" he asked offhandedly as he typed up his latest report.

"Um why is everybody looking at me like I have two heads or something?"

Chase looked around and noticed everyone hurrying back to work then sucked his teeth, "They seem to think that you and the boss have been—"

"Why would they have that idea?!" she hissed, pissed off that they would have the audacity to even think of her that way. Brooke hadn't given them one reason to even form that opinion about her in all the years she had been working here.

"Rachel may have told someone who had told someone who had told—" At Brooke's scathing and cutting look he hurriedly said, "Okay short story Rachel told one person that you had a dinner date with our boss and it spread like wild fire."

Brooke pinched the bridge of her nose then exhaled, "You're not joking are you?"

"Wish I were princess." Chase said regrettably.

She cocked her head to the side and growled, "I should kill her! And you! Because I know that you love this kind of shit and went about spreading it too! I should string you up by your balls and murder you!"

Chase opened his mouth to say something but Brooke turned her back to him and went back to work on her article, typing furiously while trying to put what she had just found out what was going on out of her head. She was focusing so hard on her research that she skipped out on lunch and even stayed while everyone else called it a night.

"You're still here?" Mr. Blackwell asked, finally breaking out of her intense concentration. "I thought everyone left for the night."

Brooke looked around and saw that everyone had long vacated the area. Her eyes then zeroed on the time on her computer and gasped, "Oh my God I didn't realize it was so late! I can shut down now and—"

Mr. Blackwell chuckled then clarified, "No I didn't mean for you to stop doing what you were doing. I'm actually glad you're here. Since you're the go to girl I have some ideas to run by you if that's ok?"

Considering what was going around the entire department she was glad that he had waited until now to ask her to come into his office. "Yeah of course."

She followed him into the office and watched him pick up a stack of papers from his desk. "I usually write down my ideas on my iPad but lately I just rewrote them on these sheets of paper since my technology failed me for the past few days."

"So these are your ideas?" Brooke asked as she looked over the topics he had presented to her. Most of them were interesting and maybe controversial even if there were happening often.

He eyed her then answered, "Yes. What do you think?"

"They're great...but most offices or places have a strict no fraternization clause." Brooke said thoughtfully, tackling the one topic that had caught her attention.

"As they should...but you know as well as I that there's always...temptation. And most fall prey to their desires."

The way he said that word made her shudder but not in a good way.

"B-but even so...is it really the right thing to do when both parties could lose their position?"

Mr. Blackwell stood behind her and placed his hand on her bare arms, causing her to shiver in disgust. "Some people don't care about the consequences Brooke...some people just live their lives a moment at a time..." He purred seductively as he continued to caress her arms.

Brooke stiffened and stepped away from him, "I can't do this. I'm your employee—"

Mr. Blackwell took a step towards her and replied, "So was Rachel—"

"And look what happened to her! Attacked by your wife and fired within the same day! That's not going to be me. I'm not her and never will be!"

"Come on I know that you want to have a stress free work environment…be nice to me and it will be—oomph!" he grunted as Brooke elbowed him in his genitals.

She walked to the door then shouted, "In case that wasn't clear enough for you—that means that I quit!"

"You won't work in this town again Brooke Davis!" he wheezed, still clutching himself.

"Try to blackball me and you will regret it!" she then walked out of his office without once looking back.

-x-

"I quit my job tonight." she said upon answering the phone. Somehow she just knew that it was Lucas.

Lucas gripped the phone as he entered his hotel room. "What do you mean quit? You just got a promotion!"

"Well even though his wife pressured him into promoting me he still had the nerve to hit on me! Plus as you know there's already gossip about me in the office—it would have got around that I was there alone with him and they would have made the assumption that I succumbed to his charm." she said that with a roll of her eyes.

"He's a douche. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know yet. Everything's fresh. I mean it's not like I really needed the job. My trust is still intact."

Her grandfather on her dad's side had set up a generous amount of four million dollars in a trust fund for her. She chose to work because she liked what she did but she didn't appreciate being used the way she had been. The only person who knew about her trust fund was Lucas Scott. The man she trusted above anyone else.

"That's the one thing that I didn't get…we both know that you didn't need that job so why didn't you quit when you started getting mistreated there?"

Brooke shrugged, "I'm not a quitter. I foolishly thought that it was gonna get better. That is until I was groped—"

Lucas felt anger building as her words took effect in his mind. "He put his hands on you?"

"He caressed my arms while talking about temptation and fraternization in the workplace. I got away from him and shouted that I quit before hauling ass."

"You're better than that job anyway."

She sat down in a nearby chair then said thoughtfully, "Maybe I should start my own company…"

"Are you serious?" he asked, hope rising inside him. He was tired of Brooke having to deal with pigs and assholes and if she was really serious then he'd support her and stand behind whatever venture she set her mind to.

"What? You think I can't do it?" Brooke asked defensively, projecting her fears onto him.

Lucas laughed and sat down on the bed, "Why so defensive?"

"Answer the question Luke."

Lucas sighed and held the phone closer then smiled fondly, "Brooke Penelope Davis…you should already know that I believe in you. You're one of the smartest women I know and if anyone can start a company it's you."

"Really? You think so?"

"I know so. Do you have a plan?"

Brooke paused then admitted, "Nothing solid yet. But maybe I can start a clothing line. You remember that I was always drawing sketches—"

"Yeah I still have a notebook full of them. You were always drawing dresses and different outfits along with hearts and different animals. They were so good that I kept them. Not to mention some notes that you wrote to me."

Brooke was so touched that she smiled and said, "Aww you have to bring them over sometime so that I can reminisce with you."

Lucas laid down and said, "Of course. We'll go through them together as soon as I get back."

"So how's Montana?"

"Well I pretty much went straight to work. I actually just checked into the hotel after I took pictures of the sunset over the horizon which was incredibly beautiful with rich oranges and blues, and a few stars popping out—it was pretty amazing. And I managed to catch a couple of wolves sitting around waiting for the full moon. I stayed out there and got a few more animals…"

"And you lived?"

Lucas chuckled and pointed out, "Not to toot my own horn but I do know how to get around without being detected by wildlife."

She sighed and watched the clock. It was now midnight. "I miss you already Broody."

"I miss you too Cheery. You have no idea how much…" he said as he laid back on the comfy bed.

Brooke smiled and bit her lip, liking that he is missing her as much as she was missing him. Just hearing his voice made her feel better, made her smile more and her heart race. She got up to her feet and walked into her bedroom. "Give me an idea of how much you miss me?"

"An idea of how much I miss you…let's see… I did three things today on the flight, miss you, miss you and miss you. What about you?"

Brooke laid down on her bed and bit her lip, not sure why she felt so good hearing that. "You may be out of my sight.. but never out of my mind… I miss you that much. Sometimes when I'm sitting here thinking about you, I wonder if you're also sitting around doing the same."

"Trust me I do." he then looked at the clock and winced, "Brooke I'm so sorry but I have to go. I will call you later I got to try to get some shut eye. The shoot starts at four o'clock in the morning and lasts all day."

She pouted, saddened that he was ending the call already but knew that he had a busy day tomorrow. "Okay…knock em dead Scott. I'll be thinking of you. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." he reluctantly ended the call and exhaled, a small pleased smile on his face. So she missed him and would be thinking about him too…that was really good to know, he thought with a thrilled smile before finally drifting off.