A/N: Thank you for all the awesome reviews. And please check out my rewrite of Weathering the Storm. According to my awesome beta Leeese, it's much better than the first one. And it's Brucas.

Disclaimer: Don't own OTH


Chapter Five

Dan Scott was staring out his office window, lost in thought. He was getting more and more irritated as each day passed without any news. He was determined to find Beth Roe. It had been five long months since her disappearance and his people still hadn't any leads on where she was.

Normally, he wouldn't waste his time looking for one specific person. But she was different. She had seen him murder one of his business associates. Of course, it wasn't intentional. He had no idea that she had seen the event until she had made a ruckus from her hiding place. He had his men chase after her, but she had gotten away. And that didn't sit well with him.

Beth Roe had never given him much trouble before. Before she had disappeared, she had worked for him as his secretary and she had done her job well. She had taken down his messages, wrote his appointments on the calendar and had been an excellent note taker.

The only problem that he had encountered with her was that she had rejected his advances towards her. He didn't mind that. He loved a challenge. It had been so long since he had had one. He had several affairs with women over the years since his divorce from Deb. But none were as feisty as Beth Roe.

He had thought his marriage to Deb would last forever. They had met in their freshman year of college and started dating soon after. Dan had waited only six months before he had popped the question. To both his surprise and disappointment, she had turned him down. She had told him that she wasn't ready to settle down quite yet. He had understood and decided to try again later.

However, he wasn't a patient man. Never had been, never will be. So it wasn't long before he had the itching to do the proposing again. But he knew that Deb wasn't going to accept the ring that soon after rejecting him. So he tried to manipulate her into thinking that they were ready for that next step of their relationship. It surprisingly worked and he was able to get her to accept his proposal only four months later.

Since Deb had agreed to the engagement, he had felt satisfied and didn't feel like he needed to rush the wedding. Months passed before he had felt that it was time to start planning the wedding. Luckily, Deb had felt the same way and they had started planning their wedding. Six months later, they were married in a huge ceremony surrounded by their family and friends.

It wasn't long after that when they were blessed with Lucas. Then two years later, Nathan came along and Dan couldn't have been happier. It was the perfect family life. However, it all came crashing down when Dan started to resort to a life of crime. He had wanted to make sure that his family was provided for, no matter what the cost.

Unfortunately, the cost was the fact that Deb and Lucas were estranged from him. Luckily, he still had Nathan on his side. Of course, Nathan had been the first one to find out the truth about his business. And Dan was able to convince him to keep it a secret for awhile. He wasn't surprised since he always could count on Nathan.

He felt guilty about not visiting Nathan during the holidays. But he knew it would be awkward with Deb and Lucas there. He hated the fact that Deb and Lucas lived so close to Nathan. Otherwise, he would visit his favorite son more often.

Dan snapped out of his daydream as there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he called as he turned to the door. He wasn't surprised when he saw his brother-in-law Cooper walked in. "You know, I wish one of these days you would come into my office with good news."

Cooper nodded understandingly. "I know. But it's not like we haven't been trying to find her."

"I don't want to hear excuses. Just find her," Dan ordered him in a firm tone.

"I understand that. But don't you think that it's time to take a break? You've been working us to death trying to find Ms. Roe," Cooper told him. "You should go to Tree Hill and visit Nathan."

"I'm assuming you're mentioning this to me because you want to go," Dan said as he raised his eyebrows. He had to admit that Cooper had a valid point. He hadn't seen Nathan for a while.

"Well, he is my nephew. And family does come first," Cooper replied. "Or at least it does for me."

Dan nodded understandingly. "I only ask one favor. Tell Nathan about Ms. Roe and tell him to watch out for her. I know it's a long shot, but you never know."

Cooper nodded. "You got it boss."


Brooke opened the front door and smiled as she saw her mother standing there. They exchanged greetings as Victoria walked in. "How are you? Your father and I haven't seen you around much lately," she teased her daughter playfully. "I suppose you've been with Lucas a lot."

Brooke gave her a smile. "I know. And that's what I want to talk to you about." Her mother gave her a puzzled look. She could that her daughter looked nervous. "Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

Her mother shook her head as they sat down on the couch. "No, I'm fine. What's wrong?"

"Lucas wants to take our relationship to the next level as in dating," Brooke told her. Victoria nodded understandingly. Brooke let out a huge sigh. "I don't know what to do. I want to date Lucas. I really do. But I don't know if I should."

"Honey, I can't tell you what to do here," Victoria said gently. "But if you want my advice, you should be careful. After all, his name is a Scott."

Brooke looked at her stunned. "Wait, you think he is related to Dan Scott?"

Victoria sighed. "It could be a possibility." Brooke hadn't even consider that thought. "Look, your father and I just want you to be careful of who you trust."

Brooke gave her mother a look. "Dan lives in Las Vegas. I doubt that he has connections way out here."

"What about family?" Victoria asked.

Brooke tried to think. "I don't know. Dan was very private about his family. And Lucas seems the same way. The only thing I know about his parents are that they are divorced and his mom lives in Charlotte," she replied. "I don't know where his dad lives. And I don't think he cares."

Her mother sighed. "Just promise me you'll be careful."

Brooke nodded. "I will."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Brooke frowned as she wondered who it was. She wasn't expecting anybody else except for her mother. She was pleasantly surprised to see Lucas standing there. They exchanged greetings as she let him in. "What are you doing here? It's only Tuesday," she reminded him.

Lucas was about to reply when he noticed Victoria. He turned red, embarrassed. Brooke smiled as she wondered what he had been about to say. "Well, I missed you. And I thought I'd surprise you by coming early. But I didn't realize that you would have company. Hello, Mrs. Davis."

"Hello Lucas," Victoria replied with a smile. "How are you today?"

"Great," Lucas said as he returned the smile. "I didn't mean to interrupt your visit, Mrs. Davis."

"You're fine Lucas. Why don't you join us?" Victoria asked him.

Lucas looked at Brooke and she nodded. He grabbed a seat in the lounge chair and they soon started their conversation. However, Victoria was quiet. Instead, she was watching as her daughter lit up as she talked to Lucas. She didn't want to interrupt their conversation. So she just let them go on.

After awhile, Victoria looked at her watch and got up from her place on the couch. "Honey, I hate to interrupt, but it's getting late. I should probably head home and help your dad figure out supper. You know what he would order if he could, takeout."

Brooke smiled fondly. "He's just not a cook like you are, Mom."

Victoria smiled at the compliment. "Thank you, Brooke. Maybe I can cook for Lucas sometime and see if my cooking beats his mother's."

Lucas laughed. "You can try."

"How about tomorrow night then?" Victoria asked him.

Lucas nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great."

Victoria gave him a smile. "Terrific. I'll see you then. You two have fun," she said as she gave her daughter a wink. "Bye."

"Bye Mom," Brooke replied as she gave her a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow." The three exchanged good-byes as Brooke walked her mother to the front door. She then shut the door and looked at Lucas who was heading over to her. She gave him a wide smile. "We're alone at last," she said as they shared a hard passionate kiss.

"So what do you want to do now?" Lucas asked.

Brooke shrugged. "I have a few ideas. But first, I want to talk about our relationship."

Lucas sighed. "Brooke, I'm sorry about asking you like that. I should have realized that you weren't ready for a relationship. I guess I was more ready than you are. And it's ok. I'm willing to wait."

Brooke shook her head. "Well, that's too bad because I was hoping to make it official."

Lucas gave her a wide smile. "Really?" Brooke nodded as they shared another passionate kiss. "Great. And to celebrate, I'm going to take you out tonight."

"Sounds perfect," Brooke replied as she returned the smile. She just hoped that she hadn't just made a big mistake.