"Daddy, would you like sugar in your tea?

"Sure, princess- I'll have a lump of sugar, please."

It's 10:30 in the morning, Brooke is still sleeping presumably, and Julian has been wrangled into a tea party in his daughter's bedroom. Just like with Hazel's bed, he's awkwardly sitting in one of the little girl's tiny chairs and Julian is afraid he's stuck.

After dunking in a pretend sugar cube into her father's pretend cup of tea, Hazel puts her hands in her lap and becomes silent. This makes Julian visibly nervous. He and Hazel aren't alone very frequently and the panic attack from the previous night is at the center of his mind now. His default is always to lighten the mood.

He picks up his tea, pinky out, and pretends to sip.

"Is this right?", he asks the girl, hoping to draw her out of her silence.

"Mumma always takes milk in her tea", Hazel remarks. "Did you know what Mumma puts in her tea?"

"I didn't know your mother drank tea…"

"Daddy, you don't know much of anything. It's 'cause you never come 'round anymore", the child says simply. This prompts Julian to put his purple plastic tea cup down in its purple plastic saucer.

"You know that I have a big job, right?" Julian asks. He knows this is futile because there are no excuses for his recent behavior.

"You make movies. I know."

"And that means I have to be away from home a lot", he says, trying to explain the best he can to a not-quite 4 year old.

"But don't you want to be home? Don't you love Mumma and me?"

Julian's shoulders fall and he sighs. He looks at Hazel for a beat and says, "Of course I love you".

Hazel's eyes remain cast on her lap, so Julian stands up from his tiny chair and goes over to his daughter, picking her up and sitting on the bed, Hazel on his lap.

"I'm going to be home more now, Hazel", he says. "I quit my big job."

"You did?

"I did. So now I'll be home in time for dinner and I can take you to the park or the Starbucks", Julian says. His comment lingers in the air as Hazel smiles up at him. It's a few beats of silence before he hears Brooke at the doorway.

"No, you can't", the mother says.

"Brooke…"

Brooke enters the room and picks Hazel up off of her father's lap. "Good morning, Hazy. How'd you sleep?"

"Like a log, Mumma!" Hazel says enthusiastically. "I'm happy now. 'Cause Daddy says he can take me to get coffee!"

"Coffee, eh?" Brooke asks, kinking her eyebrow at her daughter.

"Okay, choc-o-late milk."

"Do you think that you can play tea party by yourself for a few minutes so I can talk to your daddy?"

"Sure", Hazel replies as she wriggles out of her mother's arms and sets herself back up at her tiny table.

Brooke and Julian both smile down at the girl, but then Brooke grabs her fiance's hand and pulls him into their bedroom.

Once in their room, Brooke's shuts the door behind her – too loudly.

"Brooke, what's going on? I thought you would be happy", Julian says. He's a great man, but has more blonde moments than any actual blonde Brooke has ever met.

"I am…I am. But it's like you're trying to put a band-aid on a gaping wound. You don't know if this is going to fix anything", Brooke replies.

"But it will! I'm not going to be away all the time. I'll be here for you and Hazel now."

"You say that. You've been saying that for a while, swearing up and down that you'd come home in time for dinner but you never did. You'll find something else to distract you, to keep you away from us." Brooke fiddles with her fingers and sits at the edge of the bed. She looks up at Julian expectantly, waiting for some kind of answer.

Julian follows suit, sitting next to Brooke and grabbing her hands out of her lap and into his larger hands. "How do you know that, Brooke? How do you know that the last few months haven't killed me, too?"

"If you were hurting so much, why didn't you just come home?"

"I was scared, I guess. I didn't want to walk away from my job because I wanted to be able to support you and Hazel", Julian says.

"Support isn't just monetary, Julian", Brooke replies.

"I know. But Brooke…can you give me a chance? Please? I want to be there for you. I want to see Hazel grow up and have more babies with you. And I want to finally get married."

Brooke lets her head rest on Julian's shoulder and she sighs. "Okay", she whispers. "But please, don't let me down this time."

"I won't, baby", Julian says as he kisses the top of Brooke's head. "I promise."

The two sit in silence while Julian rubs Brooke's arm gently and Brooke closes her eyes to take all of this in. Could this be the beginning of a fresh start?

-xx-

"Daddy! Daddy! Up higher!" Hazel squeals. Higher and higher in the swing she wants to go, until it feels like she can touch the sky. Julian pushes her gently with one hand, as he sips a cup of coffee held in the other hand. From time to time, he glances over at Brooke as she sits on a bench with a book. She smiles at him when he does this, sipping her own coffee.

"Not too high, princess", he says. "How about we have lunch soon?"

"Our picnic?" Hazel yells.

"Mummy packed you all kinds of goodies", Julian says as he grabs the chains of the swing and slows it down.

Hazel, dressed adorably in a black skirt, pink tank, and striped tights, hops off the swing and runs over to Brooke. "Time for lunch?" she asks.

Brooke stands up from the bench and grabs Hazel's hand. "Absolutely, Hazy. Do you want to carry the blanket?" Hazel nods vigorously and grabs the way-too-large-to-hold blanket from her mother and scampers off to find a patch of grass.

Julian and Brooke watch her go and they join hands as they walk to meet her together.

It's been a week since Julian quit the film he was working on. They've had family dinners together every night and Julian tucks Hazel into bed every bed time. They've already finished three books.

At night, when they lay in bed together, Brooke can't help but smile. So far, so good.

When Julian and Brooke make it to the patch of grass below a tree that Hazel has chosen, the young father spreads out the blanket so he and his family can begin lunch. After they sit down, Julian's phone has begun buzzing in his pocket. This hasn't been an unusual occurrence, unfortunately.

"Hello?" Julian asks.

Brooke pauses from unloading the picnic basket to see a frustrated expression grace her boyfriend's face. She mouths, "What?" only to have him sigh and shake his head in response.

"No, I'm not coming back. No, you cannot bribe me with more money. I'll be in the office next week to finish up and take a look at the final edit, but that's it." He shrugs at Brooke, but she can't help but smile. He's finally taking control and getting back to his family.

"Goodbye", Julian says, slamming his phone shut and tossing it on the blanket.

"Are you angry, daddy?" Hazel asks as she sips from her juice box.

"Nothing a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich can't fix", Julian jokes as he helps Brooke take more food out of the basket.

Brooke raises her eyebrow in disgust. "Is that really what you made yourself for lunch?"

"No, it's what I made you", Julian says. Damn, that devil grin of his.

"I'll never live that down, will I?" Brooke replies, referring to almost the entire nine months she was pregnant with Hazel when all she wanted was cucumbers and cream cheese and finally, when she put the two together to make a rather interesting sandwich.

"Mumma!" Hazel exclaims. "That sounds like a good sandwich."

"It's no wonder you think so, baby", Brooke says."It's all I ate when you were in my tummy."

"Speaking of tummies, can I have a baby brother or sister soon?" Hazel asks. "All my friends have babies and I want one, too!"

"Soon, sweetheart", Julian replies, looking up at Brooke whose jaw has dropped as she hears his answer.

"Is that so?" Brooke replies.

"Yes, yes it is."

"I think we should worry about getting married first."

Julian unwraps his sandwich and takes a bite, all while keeping eye contact with Brooke. "Speaking of…clear your schedule for next week. We're going back to Tree Hill."