-picks up after season 2(except Lucas and Brooke never shared a goodbye kiss, they are just friends, Nathan still lives in the apartment, and Haley still hasnt come home)

So I decided to write another fanfic, this time it's a Brathan story. Please R&R because your comments mean the world.

Chapter 1

Brooke walked through the familiar airport, wondering if her best friend would be there to greet her. She tugged at her luggage as she made her way through the crowd of people. There, behind the faces of all of them, was the smile she knew all to well. But then, standing next to her, was HIM. She really didn't think it would hurt to see them together, but yet at the same time, it kind of did. She swallowed her pride, and put on the dimply smile everyone loved.

"It's so good to see some familiar faces" she said as she wrapped her arms around Peyton. After letting go, she moved to Lucas and gave him a hug as well. "So what did you two boring people do all this time in Tree Hill" she smiled

"Not much" they said in unison. She knew they were both lying.

"Well then. I'm sure you're both glad I'm back then" she smiled as she continued to pull her luggage toward the exit.

As she walked ahead of them, Lucas whispered into Peyton's ear. "Should we tell her?"

"Definitely not now" she shot back, following her best friend out the door. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her again.

"Come on you two, I want to spend the last part of my summer actually doing something" she yelled back at them.

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Over the summer, Nathan decided it was time for a change. So he re-did the whole apartment, painting it a pale green color. The painting of Haley/clown were now gone. A picture of him, Peyton, and Lucas now owned the spot. This summer, they had been his life. They helped him get through the loss of Haley, and helped him to regain his life back. But, little did they know, he was having a lot of trouble keeping the place up and running. Without a job, paying the bills wasn't the easiest thing to do.

He walked out of the shower and headed to the kitchen, a towel wrapped around him. He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. Drinking seemed to be the other thing that helped him through the long summer days. As he sat back on the couch, his phone began to ring. Looking at the caller ID, he decided not to answer it. The bell went off, signaling the answering machine as the all-too-familiar voice was heard over the machine.

"Hi Nathan. I guess I just wanted to call and check up on you. The tour is going good, our last stop is next week in Charlotte, so if you have time and want to come you can."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was the one that had finalized their divorce, sending him the papers in the mail. How dare she act like everything was fine between them, or that she still gave a damn.

"Well I can see you're not home, so maybe I'll try back later." there was a pause on the other line. "I'm sorry Nathan, and I still care about you so much." the dial tone signaled she had hung up. He took another sip of his beer before crossing the room and pushing the button. "Message deleted" was heard over the machine as he made his way back to the bedroom.

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As they drove through the small town, Brooke let out a sigh.

"What is it?" Peyton immediately asked

"I'm homeless"

"What?" Lucas asked

"I just realized I don't have a place to live" she sighed

"Brooke you can always live with me" Peyton added "Or at least until you find a place"

"Thanks P. Sawyer" she smiled, knowing she wanted to find a place as soon as possible. Sometimes living with Peyton wasn't the easiest thing in the world. "So how's Nathan?" Brooke asked

"He's doing better" Lucas answered, never taking his eyes off the road.

"That's good. Has she even called him?" Brooke wondered

"She called him on the day the papers went through, but other than that I don't know" Peyton responded.

"That must suck" Brooke replied, staring as the trees around her went zooming by the window.

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There was a knock at the door and Nathan made his way to answer it.

"Hey there stranger" Brooke smiled as he opened it, still in his towel

"Hey Brooke" he smiled back. They stood there for a minute.

"Well, can I come in or what?" she asked

"Oh of course" he said as he let her in. The place was a mess. Pizza boxes and beer bottles were everywhere. Not one window was open, so the place was a lot like a bat cave.

"When did you become a vampire?" she asked sarcastically

"About the same time my wife left me" he answered

"I didn't mean to bring up old wounds" she sighed

"It's ok. I'm just still a little bitter."

"I don't blame you" she added as she began opening some of the windows, letting the sun and fresh summer air in. She moved to the counter and began gathering some of the pizza boxes.

"Brooke you don't have to clean up"

"I don't mind. I have nothing better to do. My best friend is off doing something with your broody of a brother, so I'm pretty much bored." he smiled as she continued to clean and rant "I mean I don't understand. We only have one more week of summer before our senior year and they want to spend it in the darkness of a record store. I don't get it" he laughed at her. "What?" she smiled

"I think we all like to live in the dark" he said, pointing around his apartment.

"Well then thank God I've come to rescue Tree Hill" she smiled, he couldn't help but smile too. As she was clearing the counter, she noticed a lot of bills. She picked them up and showed them to Nathan.

"Getting a little hard" she motioned

"Well when you don't have a job and tell your rich parents that you don't want their support, it gets a little rough" he smiled "and not having another person to help really sucks ass" he added

Brooke's head shot up, her smile as wide as it could ever be.

"What?" he asked suspiciously

"I just had the best idea"

"And that would be" he asked, not knowing where her mind was going.

"Well, you need a roommate, I need a place to live…." she said, hoping he could connect the dots

"Brooke, I don't know if that's such a good idea"

"And why not? I could help pay for the bills, I mean I still get a pretty hefty check every month from my parentals, and I could help keep this place a live" she smiled

"Brooke"

"Please, oh pretty please." she begged, giving Nathan the most pathetic puppy face she could make.

"Oh alright" he gave in. She flew forward in excitement, wrapping her arms around her new roommate.

"Thanks Nathan. You wont be disappointed" she smiled as she ran out the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Just getting my stuff" she smiled as she brought in her luggage.

"You had them right outside?" he asked "You knew you were going to live here, didn't you?"

"I cant help it Nathan. I'm a sucker for lonely guys and nice apartments" she smiled. He laughed, not remembering the last time he felt a shred of happiness.

"Well, there's only one bedroom, so how is that gonna work?" he asked

"It looks like one of our lazy asses is going to be sleeping on the couch" she smiled "Rock, paper, scissors" she suggested

He smiled at her. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot" they said in unison. Brooke's paper beat his rock, sealing her fate for the bedroom.

"Damn it" he muttered. "How is this fair?"

"Life's not fair" she smiled as she made her way to the bedroom. This was sure going to make life interesting he thought as he watched her walk into the bedroom, a smile appearing on his face.

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"Ok you two, enough with the sitting around. It is gorgeous outside and I'm sick of sitting inside listening to whiney music." Brooke complained as she sat on Peyton's bed next to Peyton and Lucas.

"But we're having so much fun" Peyton joked back

"If this is your sense of fun then I seriously need to take you two to California"

"Why so we can know what it's like to sit on the beach all day, hoping to get a glimpse of Tom Cruise or something" Peyton laughed, causing Lucas to chuckle as well.

"Guys I'm serious. We need to get out of this house" she whined more

"Fine, I guess we can't hold her in here for much longer" Lucas agreed.

"Thank God" Brooke hopped off the bed and smiled "Ok, so I think we should go by and grab Nathan and then head down to the beach" she continued to go on and on as she walked out of the door, followed by Lucas and Peyton giggling as they followed her. On their way to the beach, they stopped at the apartment to pick up an unwilling Nathan, and then they headed to the beach, just to please Brooke. Because quite frankly, none of the other three really wanted to be there.

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"Are any of you actually going to get in the water?" Brooke asked as she made her way up the sandy beach. She looked at the three party poopers lying on their towels, all three of them listening to music or reading a book. "Come on guys. You people are ridiculous. This is our last week of summer and you three want to do nothing."

"That pretty much sums it up" Peyton laughed.

"Lucas will you go swimming with me?" she asked

"You know I would love to but this book is just too interesting" he joked

"Fine" she pouted, turning her attention to Nathan "Nate will you join me?"

"I don't know Brooke" he whined

"Please Nathan" she begged

"Fine" he got up off his towel very slowly "but" he added "the last one in gets a free dunk" he laughed as he took off down the beach.

Brooke, realizing what he just said, ran after him down the beach "hey, that's so not fair" He of course beat her, but she definitely didn't go down easily. Lucas and Peyton watched as the two of them wrestled in the water.

"Peyton we need to tell her"

"Lucas, not now. Everything is so good between all of us. I would hate to ruin it."

"She's going to find out eventually. Don't you think she would want to know from us"

"Lucas, I don't want to hurt her"

"Maybe she wont mind. It's not like she still has feelings for me" Peyton put her head down "does she?" he asked

"I don't know, but let's just wait a little longer" she said softy, putting her hand on top of Lucas'. They sat on the beach that way together, watching as Brooke and Nathan continued to play. Things were too good right now to ruin everything by a little relationship.