A/N: Thank you all for the awesome reviews. And thanks to my beta: Leeese.
Chapter Thirty Three
When Lucas arrived back to the hotel room, he saw that Brooke was angrily shoving her clothes into her suitcase. It was clear what she wanted to do, but Lucas had to ask anyway. "Brooke, what the hell are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Brooke snapped. "I'm packing up my stuff and going back to Charlotte. Because you obviously don't want me around." Lucas was about to protest when she corrected herself. "Ok, you want me, but you want the old me. You want the one who was lying to you about who I really was. And I can't be that girl anymore. And I don't want to be. I want to have an honest relationship with you."
Lucas sighed. "You're right. We should have an honest relationship with each other. And the truth is that I don't know if I can be a good husband to you or a good father to our son." Brooke looked at him as he continued. "After all, I'm Dan Scott's son. How do I know that I won't screw up like he did?"
Brooke turned to him fully. "Don't you think that I'm scared too?" she asked him. Lucas was stunned by her response. He wasn't expecting to hear that from his wife. "I'm terrified at the thought of becoming a mom." Lucas just listened to her as she continued. "I know I had a great childhood, but that doesn't mean that I'm not scared of making mistakes with raising our son." There was a short pause before she spoke again. "It doesn't matter anyway. We're going to make mistakes as parents. That's how we learn."
Lucas knew that was true. "I just don't want to make the same mistakes as my parents did."
Brooke gave him a comforting smile. "You won't," she assured him. "Because you have shown that you care more about your family than your work." She was about to say more when she felt the baby kick. "Well, it looks like Jayden agrees with his mom."
Lucas laughed. "Is that so?" he asked her. Brooke nodded. "Well, I guess it's two against one. So I guess I have no choice but to agree with you. But I'll only do it if you don't leave our weekend vacation early." Brooke sighed. She could tell that Lucas really wanted her to stay. She finally gave in and started unpacking her suitcase. "Can I make it up to you by taking you out to dinner tonight?" he offered.
"Actually, Haley and I are planning to go shopping," Brooke replied. "But you and Nathan are welcome to join us."
Lucas groaned. "Please don't tell me that you're going to buy more stuff for Jayden. Can't you just wait until your baby shower? If you shop for the baby now, we'll have to take two cars to get home. And we only brought one."
"That's not true. You and Nathan can ride up on top of the car," she teased him. She could see that Lucas wasn't amused. "Ok, I promise that I will buy one outfit and one outfit only."
"Don't even think about finding a loophole and buying an outfit for Jamie either," Lucas warned her as she headed to the bathroom. Lucas was right behind her. "Because I would make you take it right back to the store."
Brooke just gave him a smile. "Did you know that you're sexy when you're broody like this?" she asked him as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Don't try to change the subject," Lucas told her as she started kissing him. He knew what she was doing and wanted her to stop. But at the same time, he loved her when she was like this. He started to kiss her back. "How long do you have before you have to go?" he asked her.
Brooke shrugged. "As much as I love shopping, Haley won't mind if I'm late," she replied before she gave him another kiss. As they continued to make out, Lucas knew that this was a start to them making up.
The rest of the weekend went by fast. Lucas and Brooke were able to work out their problems and not have any more arguments. Nathan and Haley were relieved since they didn't want anything to ruin the rest of their vacation.
Once they got back to North Carolina, they prepared themselves for the upcoming wedding. Jake and Peyton wanted to make sure that their wedding didn't coincide with the baby shower or the births of Jamie and Jayden. But they weren't able to book the church until the middle of October, which just happened to be around Haley's due date. However, Haley wasn't that worried about it. She and Nathan had a plan just in case she would be going into labor on that day.
"So what is your master plan if you go into labor on my wedding day?" Peyton asked Haley curiously. They along with Brooke and Millie were getting the room decorated for the engagement party. Even though Peyton knew that the party was for her and Jake, she still insisted on helping out her friends.
"I would like to know how they are going to pull it off if her water breaks in the middle of the ceremony," Brooke said. "After all, you never know when you will start contractions. Personally, I hope I have Jayden on Thanksgiving."
"You're lucky. Jamie won't be born around a holiday except maybe Columbus Day," Haley replied. "As for me going into labor during the wedding ceremony, we'll just wait until Peyton and Jake are done with their vows before we go to the hospital."
"What is this I hear about my daughter going into labor early?" a familiar voice asked. Everyone turned to see Keith and Karen walking into the room. Brooke rushed over to her parents and embraced them in a gentle hug. "You girls should take advantage of the quiet. It will never come again once you have children."
Brooke gave her parents a wide smile as they greeted her friends. "What are you two doing here? My due date isn't for a few more months." It wasn't like she wasn't happy that they were there. She just wasn't expecting them to visit so early.
"We wanted to make sure that you and our grandson were ok," Keith replied. "And we wanted to start looking for a house down here."
Brooke had forgotten about that. "So you're still thinking of moving to North Carolina?" she asked.
Karen gave her a wide smile. "Of course we are," she replied. "We knew that you weren't planning to move back to Las Vegas. So we have to move closer to you. And we were hoping that we could stay with you and Lucas until we find a house." Brooke was about to respond when her mother continued. "I know that you two just moved into Lucas's old house and all. But it's just going to be temporary. We've already started looking at houses online."
"You can always have Brooke's old apartment," Peyton pointed out. "I think it's still up for rent."
"We did think about moving into another apartment, but it probably wouldn't work," Karen said. "It would be too small. And I want my grandson have plenty of room to run and play with his toys."
"Besides, that's in Tree Hill," Keith added. "And we want to be close to Brooke and Jayden."
Peyton nodded understandingly. She then turned to Brooke. "Well, I think we can handle the rest of the decorations if you want to help your parents get settled in," she told her. She then turned back to Keith and Karen. "Jake and I are planning to have our engagement party tonight. You're welcome to join us."
Karen gave her a wide smile. "We would love to come to your party." Keith nodded in agreement as they heard footsteps. They turned to see Lucas, Nathan, Mouth and Andy coming to the room. They exchanged greetings with them as they walked over to the group. Lucas tried to hide his surprise as Karen spoke again. "Lucas, there you are. I hope you're not working our daughter too hard."
Lucas gave her a comforting smile. "Don't worry. Nathan and I are the ones who are doing the heavy lifting. What are you two doing here?"
"They came early so they can start looking for a house," Brooke replied. "They're hoping that they can still stay with us."
"You would probably be better off in a hotel," Lucas said. "No offense, but the house isn't ready for guests. There are still a lot of boxes around."
Karen wasn't pleased. "Lucas, you shouldn't be having all those boxes lying around." Brooke had a feeling that her overprotective mother mode was kicking in. She was soon right as her mother spoke again. "What if Brooke trips over them? You don't want anything to happen to your wife or unborn son, do you? You're lucky that we're here. We can help you two unpack the house before we get started on the nursery. I'm sure that the room will look great in blue."
Brooke tried to smile, but she knew that her worst fear was coming true. "Mom, I know you want to help, but Lucas and I already have a theme in mind for the nursery. Jayden is going to have an animal themed nursery."
Karen gushed at the thought of it. "I can't wait to see it. But right now, I'm a little tired from the trip. So why don't you lead the way to the house so we can get settled in?" she suggested. Brooke knew that she couldn't argue with them. So she and Lucas said good-bye to their friends before they headed to the car.
Lucas waited until they were on the road before he spoke. "Brooke, I thought we had this discussion already. We are supposed to tell each other if your parents are coming for a visit. That way, we can prepare the house."
Brooke knew that he would accuse her of calling up her parents and invite them over for a visit without warning him first. "I didn't call them. They showed up on their own. I know that their visit is earlier than expected, but we could make the most of it."
Lucas gave her a look. "Brooke, they haven't been here for five minutes and already they were trying to tell you what to do."
"They were just trying to give us advice," Brooke protested. "They want to make sure that I have a safe delivery."
Lucas sighed. "I know. It's just that I don't want the advice to go overboard."
Brooke couldn't help but agree with him. "I'll talk to them and remind them that they are the grandparents, not the parents."
Once they arrived at the house, Keith and Karen were both displeased. "I would have thought with all the drama with Dan, you two would put in a security alarm system," Keith told them with a concerned frown.
"We didn't believe that it was necessary," Brooke replied. "After all, all of Dan's men are either dead or in prison. Besides, we make sure all the doors and windows are locked up for the night before we go to bed."
Before her parents could respond, Lucas spoke up. "Why don't I show you two to the guestroom?" he suggested as he grabbed Karen's suitcase. Keith and Karen were right behind him. He then went downstairs to join his wife. "Why do I have a feeling that this isn't going to be a good visit?" he asked her.
Brooke knew how he felt. However, she wanted to stay positive. "It's just off to a bad start. I'm sure it will get better once I talk to them about the difference between parents and grandparents."
Lucas was skeptical. "You really think your parents will listen to you and back off?"
"They will have to if they want to see their daughter and grandson on a regular basis," Brooke replied. "I may be their daughter, but they can't tell me what to do anymore. They know that, but it looks like I will have to remind them." She gave her husband a kiss on the cheek before she started to make some tea for her guests.
A couple of hours later, they were back at the restaurant for the party. "So how long are your parents staying at your place?" Haley asked Brooke. Neither were in the mood for dancing, which was what most of the other guests were doing.
Brooke shrugged. "I don't know. It will probably be just for a few days. They have been looking at houses. They just need to find a real estate agent to help them out." She then felt some movement from the baby. "Well, it looks like Jayden is enjoying himself."
Haley smiled in return as she looked down at her own belly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Jamie is kicking up a storm. There is no doubt in my mind that these two cousins are going to be best friends." Brooke had to agree. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go to the restroom," she said as she got up from her chair and headed towards the exit.
As she came out of the restroom, she accidently bumped into another person. She quickly apologized before she recognized the person. The person had the same reaction. They exchanged greetings as they embraced each other in a hug. "Clay Evans, what are you doing here in Charlotte?" Haley asked him.
"I'm here on a business trip and I thought I would visit my favorite couple," Clay replied. "But I then saw that you were having a private party. So I didn't want to be rude and crash." Haley nodded understandingly as Clay glanced at the baby bump. "You know, I didn't quite believe it when I heard that you were pregnant, but I guess I'm proven wrong. Congratulations to you and Nathan. How far along are you?"
Haley gave him a wide smile. "I'm six and a half months along," she told him proudly.
"Well, I should get back to my hotel. I have a lot of work to do," Clay replied. Haley was about to protest when "Like I said before, I don't want to interrupt your party." He was about to leave when he suddenly turned back to Haley. "It really hasn't been fun for you or Nathan's family for the last few months, has it?"
Haley was a little confused with his question. However, she decided to answer. "No, it hasn't," she admitted. "It was hell. I'm just glad that my baby and my nephew made it through safely."
Clay nodded understandingly. "That's all I needed to know. Thanks Haley." He quickly said good-bye and left without another word, leaving Haley confused. However, she decided to let it go as she headed back to the party.
