Two weeks had passed since Jay connected Sam and The Replacer, yet he still didn't know how to bring up the subject to Brooke. He was in somewhat of a predicament; his biggest fear being Sam actually was somehow involved, and he knew that would end up hurting Brooke in the long run, but it was a huge case, and his sergeant was beginning to get antsy on solving it. Going as far as threatening to transfer the case to another unit if they didn't get any answers soon.

Jay inwardly groaned as he sat in office contemplating how to bring up Sam's mom's boyfriend again. This is why surgeons don't operate on family. This is why police aren't supposed to be involved in cases regarding family. Too many feelings. Things had been going great with Brooke and the boys. About three days after arriving, Sam's mom, Rebecca, called and made amends with Sam, and she ended up going back "home", and Jay hadn't seen much of her since.

As if God knew Jay needed a reason to bust this guy, sure enough he headed to Brooke's that night for take-out and a movie, and Sam was there. Eyes puffy and makeup smeared, she sat crying into Brooke's shoulder when he walked through the door.

"Hey." He said quietly as he set the food down on the coffee table and took a seat across from Brooke. Jay didn't really know what to say- or even do for that matter, so he began to unpack the Italian food. He cleared his throat, "Sam, I didn't know you were gonna be here, but lucky for you, I bought an extra spaghetti." He added with a small smile. Brooke smiled back at him, silently thanking him for being so wonderful.

Sam pulled away from Brooke and wiped away her tears, "Thanks, but I don't have much of an appetite right now. Brooke, is it okay if I go lay down in your bed for a bit?"

Brooke gave her a sad smile, "Of course it is sweetie. You know it's going to be okay, right? He's not getting away with it this time." That caught Jay's attention for sure. He immediately looked up and shot Brooke a look that was a mix of worry and anger. This guy had done far too much damage to innocent bystanders, let alone the people he cares about.

As soon as he heard Brooke's door shut he spoke up, the anger evident in his voice, "What the hell happened?"

Brooke was reluctant to share what Sam told her with Jay because she knew he'd go ballistic right away. The words tried to come out, but all that escaped was a sigh.

"Brooke, I need to know exactly what happened." He stood from his seat and moved so he was sitting next to her, and placed his hands in hers. "Please."

Brooke sighed again, "He hit her. All I know is that she found something, a bag- or something, and he hit her." She could very easily see the anger in Jay's eyes, and she knew what was about to come next. "Jay. No. We need it to take it to the police." She pleaded, but it was too late, Jay had already furiously jumped up and was preparing to leave.

"I am the police. What's his name?" When Brooke didn't answer, he spoke again, in a slightly calmer tone, "Brooke, what is this man's name? I am not letting him get away."

Brooke sighed in defeat, "Max Nichols. His name is Max Nichols. But Jay you can't-" Jay was already gone before she had a chance to try and stop him. She didn't know this was the man Jay had been tracking down for months.

Sam jumped at the sound of the door slamming. Immediately thinking the worst, she ran out of Brooke's bedroom to find Brooke staring aimlessly at the door, "Brooke…" she started cautiously, "are you okay?"

Brooke had zoned out after Jay left. "He's gonna kill him. Sam, go next door and ask Mrs. Lancaster if Erin could watch the boys for a few hours, we have to go."

By the time Brooke's 14 year old neighbor, Erin, arrived to watch the boys, Sam and Brooke had already tried calling Jay numerous times, every phone call ending with the 'automated voice message box' message. "Thank you so much Erin, it's an emergency. They were pretty tired when I put them down, I don't think they'll be waking up again. I owe you one." Brooke said as she practically ran out of the house.

Jay left Brooke's house in a hurry, desperate to finally catch this guy. He wondered what was in the bag Brooke was talking about. He assumed Sam never had a chance to open it before Max found her. That bastard. Jay thought. As soon as he got in his car he called his team and told them to meet up at Sam's house. "We got him." He said as he hung up the phone.

Jay had no idea how many traffic laws he broke on the way to bust Max Nichols, but as soon as he arrived, he had regained composure. He was gonna take the sarcastic approach. He parked across the street from the white picket fence and made his way to the front door. After knocking once and getting no response, he started to lose patience. He banged on the door for several minutes before it swung open and he was face to face with Rebecca. "Hi, there. Detective Jay Halstead, Tree Hill PD. I'm looking for a Max Nichols. Is he home by chance?" He asked with a grin.

"He's upstairs. Can I ask what this is about?" Jay was surprised that she hadn't lied to him. He'd expected her to tell him he wasn't home; whether or not he actually was. He concluded that she either really didn't know or she was covering for him as he tried to get away.

"Confidential."

"Figured I'd ask. He's never been in any trouble before." She said with a small giggle. She was stalling. Jay now knew that she was covering for him and he was probably already on his way out the back. Luckily for Jay, he was a smart cop, and already had Ruzek and another detective on his team discretely sneak into the backyard.

"Ma'am, this is pretty urgent, if you wouldn't mind, I need to talk to him now." Just then he saw headlights, and turned around to see Brooke and Sam exiting the vehicle. Jay silently cursed under his breath, he should have known Brooke was going to come after him.

"Jay!" Brooke yelled running up to him, with Sam following shortly behind.

"Brooke? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to stop you from killing him, Jay."

Jay looked at her, confused, "Killing who? Brooke, this is more than what Max Nichols did to Sam. Max Nichols is the guy I've been trying to get behind bars for months now. Max Nichols is The Replacer. I knew it the second I saw that necklace around Sam's neck. I just haven't had enough reason to arrest him. Now I do."

Brooke and Sam looked at each other as the realization of what Jay had just told them sunk in. None of them noticed Rebecca sneak back inside. They were in their own world until they heard Ruzek scream from the backyard, "Police! You are under arrest." All three of them snapped their heads in the direction of Adam's voice, but Jay was the first to move. He ran towards the backyard to find both Rebecca and Max in handcuffs.

Jay sent Brooke home after that. He had a lot to do in order to close the case, he knew he probably wouldn't be done working until the early hours of the morning. He told Brooke he'd stop by her place in the morning and explain everything in detail. Unfortunately, he had to bring Sam in for questioning, only because she was living in the house with Rebecca and Max. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." He told her as they got in his car, he could tell she was nervous.

Jay ended up getting home around 3 A.M and decided it would be easiest for Sam to just crash at his place. He made up the couch for her and she was out like a light, even after the stressful events of the previous night. He made sure she was okay one last time before shooting Brooke a text and letting her know Sam was alright, and went to bed himself.

The next morning, Jay and Sam arrived at Brooke's and Brooke had never been so happy to see either of them. In order to get to Brooke's early enough to explain everything, he and Sam only got about 4 hours of sleep, and Sam went right back to bed the second she entered Brooke's place. It took about an hour for Jay to fill Brooke in on what happened, at least the parts he was allowed to share.

Both Max and Rebecca were in jail, which evidently left Sam homeless, once again. Luckily this time around, Brooke was already there.

A/N: I SUCK! It's been a stressful 2 months. Let's just say I hate college. Also I've had no motivation for this story whatsoever, but last night I reread it and literally sat down and made myself continue it. Glad I did too. Sorry this chapter didn't have much Brooke/Jay I figured I needed to get Jay's case solved, which didn't really leave me with any space for their relationship. More to come! Stay tuned :)