AUTHORS NOTE: My promised return and re-write of Good Behaviour. Here is a new prologue, i hope you all enjoy. i also hope everyone is well. I thank my readers for their patience and also welcome any new ones. Please review, i would love feedback on the changes and to know readers are still with me.

link to the original trailer for the fanfiction. Just add to the end of youtubedotcom /watch?v=tJiIf_V-Exg

Prologue

I'm okay Brooke thought, trying to convince herself of the lie that she had been repeating all morning. The eighteen year old brunette smoothed down her dress that didn't quite fit. It was a loan from Karen, Brooke couldn't help but think how sickly appropriate it was that the dress was usually the older woman's funeral garb. That's what it felt like today, as if they were attending a funeral. The world seemed dark and sombre, Brooke wanted to smile yet her body refused to fake one more emotion so she kept her face blank. I'm okay, she thought again, giving her reflection a defiant nod.

There was a knock on the door, two quiet taps before it opened and Haley's honey blonde head appeared through the crack "hey Brooke-"

"I'm okay" Brooke quickly said however the look Haley sent back spoke volumes about how believable she found Brooke's words, "really, I am. Lucas is coming home today, I have to believe that"

Smiling Haley walked over to the girl who had somehow stolen the title of her best friend, "of course he is" she said rubbing Brooke's arms, and then she frowned "is that Karen's funeral dress"

Brooke rolled her eyes, "it's the only thing that fit me and didn't look like I was going to the beach" she shot her reflection another quick look, "and I can't afford any clothes for myself, not now, my parents are still refusing to allow me my trust fund from my grandmother. They don't care about their grandson let alone the trial" and, as if he knew that his mother was talking about him, Jamie started crying from his cot on the other side of the room.

Before Brooke could move Haley ran her hand down Brooke's arm and stayed her, "let me. You finish getting ready" and headed to the cot herself. The little boy, not even a month old, had his rosebud lips pursed in his typical waking up expression, his eyes scrunched up as he arched his back and pumped his fist around searching for comfort. Haley was amazed how small he was, "good morning, Benjamin" she cooed as she went to pick his skinny body up. The baby felt so natural in her arms and she sent Brooke a reassuring smile before taking Benjamin out of the room leaving Brooke alone again.

Turning back to the mirror Brooke stared into her bleak hazel eyes, "breathe".

…

Breathe. The ticking of the clock taunted Lucas as he sat waiting and then he heard the voice of an angel calling his name and he looked up from his hands to see Brooke walking towards him, their son in her arms. He stood in time to catch them in a hug, "Brooke, thank god you're here, I was going crazy waiting alone"

"I'm here now" she said but didn't smile, he was okay with that, he nodded and grabbed her cheeks with his hands pulling her in for a bittersweet kiss, "I'm not going anywhere" Brooke promised as his lips left hers, the words breathless.

Inside Lucas smiled at her words yet another part of him was all too conscious that he couldn't make the same statement. Shaking the thought away Lucas grinned, "pass me my boy" and grabbed Benjamin from the boys mother's arms, "I have missed you so much, you are getting so big" he pulled Benjamin close, closing his eyes as he inhaled his sons scent.

"He's twice the size of his Aunt" Haley laughed and Lucas finally noticed his best friend and mother had joined them. When their eyes met Haley gave a warm smile yet her eyes betrayed the worry, "you clean up good"

"Thanks. Do I look respectable?"

"Very" she nodded and tugged his tie, "you look good"

He bit his bottom lip, do I look innocent?

…

"… innocent is not what this man is" the prosecutor waved his hand in Lucas' direction, "and the defense will try to convince you that Lucas Scott had no intention of firing the gun, that there was no intent for murder when he pointed a loaded weapon at his own father, or when he pulled the trigger mere feet away from where his mother and fiancé, both pregnant, stood. But there is no question he pointed a gun at his father, that the gun was loaded, and that it was fired, narrowly missing Dan Scott. There is no question that he threatened to kill the man. I will show you intent, I will show you motive, and I will show you that the only accident was that Lucas Scott missed"

The courtroom went silent and many hearts sank, Lucas gulped refusing to turn to see the reaction on his family and friends faces, and he stayed facing forward during the entire trial, never flinching. Not when the prosecutor twisted Brooke's testimony against Lucas, or when his mother couldn't say for sure if she'd heard the bullet fire before or after she collapsed that night, or when Dan smiled as he denied that there was any truth in Lucas' claim that Dan murdered Keith.

It wasn't until he heard Brooke's sharp cry of no when the verdict was read that Lucas finally flinched, his demeanour wavered and he turned to look behind him.

For a second he caught Nathan's gaze from the prosecuting side, his brother sat grimly next to their father, and he quickly looked down when he noticed Lucas' eyes on him, and then he saw Dan staring back, the older man simply lifted his brow. Anger boiled inside Lucas, anger, hate, pain, yet he shifted it aside as something deeper took over, guilt, shock, panic, another pain far worse, at the realisation that it was over, he'd lost. Lucas had lost everything. He searched for his family, the fiancé he won't get to kiss every day and the son he won't get to hold, or watch grow.

Brooke rushed forward as the guards started towards Lucas, he pulled her close, the barrier between them stopping their lower halves meeting, "It's okay" Lucas tried to tell her but Brooke knew he was lying to her, she could hear the catch in his voice, "it's going to be okay" he said as they grabbed his arms, pulling him away from her.

"We'll fight it" she declared.

His champion, he looked at her and words faded from his mind, he could not reassure her so he nodded, he nodded again when he caught sight of Haley and the baby.

Suddenly it was as if the faces of the crowd, friends and strangers, and the cries of my supporters were all a thousand miles away, and what remained in that bizarre, muffled blur was only my son. The boy whose life, smile and warmth gave me purpose. In that moment, my loss was not my freedom, it was my heart. The clarity hit, the realization that my future wasn't going to include watching him grow, that I would never get to be the father to Benjamin that Keith was to me, not in truth; not in action. I was now and would always be too late. It was not hate or anger that overwhelmed me, it was love and grief.

(Extract. An Unkindness of Ravens, Page 511)