-1The ride to the restaurant had been pretty quiet so far. Mouth was driving while Rachel was sitting in the passenger seat helping him navigate his way down the road. Peyton and Jake were sitting in the first seats behind Rachel and Mouth, Peyton was reclining back against the window with her legs rested on Jake's lap. He was rubbing the top of her leg above her walking boot that she was still wearing from her and Brooke's car accident. Behind them sat Nathan and Haley, Haley rested her head on Nathan's shoulder and he gently ran his hand up and down her shoulder blade. In the back row were Brooke and Lucas, she sat on one side of the van with her legs crossed looking blankly out the window. Lucas sat on the other and silently wondered what was bothering her. His attention was brought away from his thoughts when Mouth pulled into a Radio Shack.

"What are you stopping here for?" Nathan asked turning his attention from Haley who was being lulled to sleep by Nathan's movements of his hand.

"I'm just going to go in and see if they have any video equipment so I can work on a few tapes for the news" Mouth informed everyone as he took off his seatbelt and opened the door.

"Well I'll go with you I want to look around" Jake said slowly lifting Peyton's legs off of him and heading for the van door.

"Me too" Lucas nodded moving from the very back of the van.

"Well if all of you are going then I'm going to go to" Nathan said following Lucas out the door.

"Do you want to come Rachel?" Mouth asked

"You're kidding right?" Rachel laughed jokingly

"Yeah" Mouth said shutting the door and the four guys walked into the store.

"You ok Brooke you're awfully quiet back there" Haley asked her friend

"Yeah…I think I know why Lucas doesn't want to be romantic with me" Brooke said looking out the window.

"Why's that?" Haley asked turning around to look at Brooke.

"I think I need to lose a few pounds" Brooke said softly

"What did you just say?" Haley asked not believing what she just heard.

"I think if I lost maybe 5 or 10 pounds…Lucas would be more interested" Brooke looked at Haley as she finished her sentence.

Rachel looked back from the front seat "I should climb back there and punch you in the face Brooke"

"What?" Brooke asked

"If you think for one second that you need to lose weight than you need help…you don't need to lose 10 pounds if anything you need to gain 10 pounds…you're thin almost to thin…so don't let me hear you say that again" Rachel narrowed her eyes as she talked to Brooke.

"Well do you think he's still mad about the baby thing?…I mean there has to be some reason he doesn't want to be with me" Brooke folded her arms and rested them against her.

Peyton pushed a few loose curls behind her ears "Brooke I'm sure its nothing…just don't worry"

"Maybe he's going behind you're back and having sex with Peyton again" Rachel joked her smile fell when all three girls narrowed their eyes at her. Rachel cleared her throat "I'm sorry is that not funny yet?"

"No" Haley said turning to look from Rachel to Brooke "Brooke it's fine…Lucas will come around"

"Yeah" Brooke sighed and nodded

"Here the guys come" Peyton commented looking out the window.

Mouth, Lucas, Nathan and Jake got back into the van and they all took off to the Outback Steakhouse. Once they arrived everyone walked in and they were finally seated. Everyone slid into the booth and looked over their menus after placing their orders the group of friends made small talk.

"So how's Hayden doing?" Haley asked Peyton as she cut a piece of the bread that was brought to the table.

"He's good he's walking up a storm now…the other day I took him to work with me and he was sitting down on the floor playing and I look back up and he's all the way across the studio…he was just so proud of himself" Peyton smiled as she talked about her little boy.

"It won't be long and Hannah will be walking" Jake said looking at Lucas

Lucas nodded "Yeah….she's already crawling so much better than what she was…I don't know what Brooke and I will do when she's able to walk" Lucas nudged Brooke's shoulder with his own "You ok?"

Brooke looked over at Lucas and smiled "Yeah…I'm just tired"

"Well do you want a cup of coffee oe something?' Lucas asked her while he took a drink of his pop.

Brooke shook her head and turned her attention to Haley "Is Jamie still excited about the baby?"

Haley nodded "Yeah…he can't wait he wants the baby to come like right now…Nathan and I have to keep telling him that it's going to be a little while before the baby comes"

Brooke nodded "What does he want to do for his birthday?"

Haley reached for her plate that the waiter had brought to everyone before she answered Brooke's question "He wants a cowboy and Indian birthday party"

"Oh wow that sounds like fun" Brooke said picking at her Cesar salad with her fork.

"Yeah…I'm just not too sure where I'm going to find Indian stuff for it" Haley cut up her chicken with a knife as she announced her small problem to the table.

"You should look at the party supply store they just built in Tree Hill" Peyton told her "They might have some stuff there"

"That's a good idea I forgot about that place" Haley told her as she started to eat.

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After dinner the couples walked to the van and got in. They all made small talk as they drove to the club. Once they arrived they all walked in and took a seat in the table at the back of the room. It was really dark in the club and the fog machine didn't help matters any. Mouth and Rachel took off to the dance floor and started to sway to the beat of the music. They were soon followed by Haley and Nathan who moved to the dance floor next to the couple. Lucas and Jake had gone to get drinks which left Peyton and Brooke at the table.

"So…you've been quiet all night long" Peyton told Brooke looking at her friend.

"It's just been a long day…I think I'm just going to head back to Rachel's" Brooke told Peyton as she grabbed her purse and scooted out of the booth. "Will you do me a favor and tell Lucas that I took a cab home?"

Peyton shook her head "He's coming right now so you can tell him yourself"

Lucas and Jake came back to the table with their arms full of drinks. They sat them down on the table and Jake slid into the seat next to Peyton. Lucas wrapped his arms around Brooke and kissed her shoulder blade. "Going somewhere?" he asked when he saw her purse on the table.

Brooke kept her back to him "Um…I'm just really tired and I think I'm going to take a cab back to the cabin"

"We just got here Brooke" Lucas let go of Brooke and turned her to face him "Is there something wrong?"

Brooke shook her head "No…nothing like I told you…I'm just really tired and I kind of have a headache so I'm going to just go home and go to bed…I won't be very good company tonight"

Lucas furrowed his brow as he looked down at her "Do you want me to go with you?"

Brooke shook her head "No…stay and have fun…I'll see you when you get home"

Brooke turned and grabbed her purse from the table top and walked out of the club. Lucas watched her leave before sitting down next to his friends.

"She's been acting weird all day…I don't understand she seemed fine yesterday…I'd just like to know what's wrong"

Peyton shrugged her shoulders and watched Rachel and Mouth walk back to the table "Where's Brooke?" Rachel asked

"She went home" Lucas answered

"Oh…I figured she would…I'm just surprised you didn't go with her" Rachel said sitting down next to Jake.

"I offered to go with her but she didn't want me to" Lucas told her.

"Lucas you are so clueless…I mean it's funny" Rachel half laughed as she took a drink of her wine.

"Yeah…I'm so clueless Rachel" Lucas rolled his eyes and sunk back into the booth.

"Yeah you are….Brooke's been throwing herself at you since we got here yesterday and you can't open your eyes and see it…or you turn her down…I mean really get a clue…If the blind chick that's in my yoga class was here she'd be able to see it…I don't know how you can't" Rachel took another drink and sat her wine glass down.

"She tell you that?" Lucas asked

"Why are you going to pick a fight with her if she did?" Rachel shot right back "Cause you seem to have the foot in your mouth disease when it comes to her the last couple of months"

"I just don't want to force her to do something she's not ready to do yet…I was there and I know what the doctor told her…I just think…well I know that she hasn't recovered as much as what she thinks she has…I'm just looking out for her"

"You know she thinks you don't want anything to do with her anymore" Rachel sighed and pulled her long red hair up off of her shoulders as she tried to cool herself off.

"She does not think that" Lucas argued back

"Yeah…she does…she thinks you think she's fat and that you're mad at her because she doesn't want to have another baby yet"

"Are you serious?" Lucas asked his features softened as he looked at Rachel.

"Lucas I'm sorry…but I wouldn't lie to you about that…you should talk to Brooke when we get home" Rachel stood back up and took a hold of Mouth's hand and took off to the dance floor.

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It was almost 2 in the morning when they got back to Rachel's cabin. Jake carried in a sleeping Peyton and laughed to himself as she snored as he carried her. Nathan and Haley said goodnight to everyone and went off to their room for the night. Since Lucas and Haley were the only ones who didn't drink that night Lucas drove home and Haley made sure that everyone was ok as they drove. Mouth and Rachel had made out the whole way home and they had taken their escapades to their room as soon as they made it through the door. Lucas closed up downstairs and loosened his tie and made his way down to the hall to his room. He opened the door as quietly as he could and walked into the bathroom and turned the light on and shut the door and proceeded to get ready for bed. He opened the door and turned off the light and pulled the covers back from his side of the bed. He got in slowly and turned his head to look at Brooke. He listened to her soft rhythmic breaths as she slept strands of her hair had fallen across her face, Lucas reached up and brushed her hair across her face, Brooke's eyes fluttered open and she focused them on her husband.

"Lucas…what time is it?" her voice was groggy as she asked him her question.

"It's almost 2...go back to sleep" Lucas leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"Did you have a good time?" Brooke yawned and rolled over on her side with her back to Lucas.

"Yeah…I would have had a better time if you would have been there" Lucas turned on his side and he wrapped his arm around her.

"I'm sorry" Brooke murmured into her pillow.

Lucas pulled Brooke's slender frame against him and kissed her temple and he thought about what Rachel had told him earlier "Me too Pretty Girl"