A/N: Okay.... another long pause between chapters. I'm so sorry! Between finishing school, work stuff and holidays plans, I've been completely slacking on this story, but not anymore. At least hopefully it won't be long. Right now I feel so torn between my long time love for BL and my new infatuation with BJu. Every time I watch something pertaining to either couple, I start leaning in that direction. I guess right now I'm hoping that if there is never a BL and that BJu is Brooke's future... that Mark handles it well instead of the way he handles every relationship on the show these days.

Anyway... on topic, thanks for the reviews and sorry for the long delay!!

Different - Acceptance

Chapter 3 - Different

I'm taking a chance,
this could be different.
This could be all I'm waiting for.
Taking a chance,
this could be different.
This could be all I'm waiting for

"Two nights in a row," Julian began as he opened the door and found himself staring down into uncertain hazel eyes. "People might start talking."

Forgoing their usual banter, Brooke simply asked, "Can I come in?"

His answer and invitation into the quiet room was to open the door wider so Brooke could walk in. "I'm surprised you're not yelling yet," Julian admitted once the door had soundlessly closed behind her.

"Should I be?"

"Shouldn't you be?" he asked back.

"Maybe," Brooke murmured and walked towards his window. There seemed to be a melancholy about her that he didn't understand. Something that seemed to encompass her as she pulled the curtains aside and stared out into the darkness. "Do you ever look outside at night and expect to see a city full of lights staring back at you?" she wondered, thinking about her time in New York. The crowds, the people… and even the anonymity that came with her first years spent in the city. Back when things were a little simpler, if not much lonelier. "And if you do... do you ever feel disappointed in that half second when you see nothing but your reflection staring back at you?"

"Who says I'm not used to the darkness?" he asked back, causing her to laugh humorlessly.

"You and I really are a lot alike... aren't we?"

"Maybe." But instead of nothingness, it was his frown reflected to her in the window. A brief and sad image just before she turned and let the curtains slip from her hands. "What's on your mind, Brooke," he asked and dug his hands inside his pockets. It was an uncertain stance that she wasn't at all used to. Another side to him besides the cocky director he often portrayed and the sympathetic friend that had ridden to Sam's rescue the night before.

"I was attacked in my store."

Unlike with Peyton and even with Haley afterwards, there was no reaction from Julian. Just an expression that told her he already knew the whole story and silence to let her know that he was willing to listen if she wanted to talk about it.

Funny, she thought, a stranger was willing to do what her best friend couldn't.

"Trust has always been a hard thing for me," she quietly admitted after making the decision to try and explain her behavior since he first showed up in Tree Hill. "And what happened to me that night just sort of cemented all those issues. So when I warned you away from Peyton and Sam... I guess I came on a little too strong," Brooke decided. "And for that, I'm sorry."

But Julian didn't accept it. Instead he walked around the chair towards Brooke and hesitated when he saw fear light her eyes for the briefest second before it fell back into darkness. "There's two schools of thought when it comes to trust," he carefully began. "Some think that trust is given freely. That you trust people until they give you a reason not to."

Brooke stared up at him and replied, "Sounds optimistic."

"To some people it's perfectly realistic," Julian gently countered. "But then there's the other side of the spectrum. They're the people who believe that trust is earned. That it's hard to give and easy to take away."

"And which are you?" Brooke wondered, kinking her brow in question. "The optimist or the cynic?"

"The realist."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning... I know that trust is something that people either protect, or take advantage of. That some are careless with it because they never had to work for it," he said and couldn't help but reach out to tuck and errant strand of hair behind Brooke's ear. He watched her eyes follow his movements but unlike before, he saw no fear in them. Just and open curiosity that she either couldn't, or didn't want to disguise. "And there are others who never had it, who desperately need it to prove that they deserved it in the first place."

"You sound like a big, convoluted fortune cookie," Brooke declared, though not meanly.

"You picked Sam," he replied. "You gave her your trust and despite a few teenage problems like throwing a party in your store and hiding a boy in her room... she protected that trust. So you want to protect her," he shrugged. "I understand that. I also don't think you should ever apologize for it."

"She told you about that stuff?" Brooke asked, not bothering to hide her surprise.

Julian shrugged once more and said, "It was a long drive."

"Oh," Brooke murmured and glanced up into his dark stare. She couldn't read him and for some reason, that disappointed her. "I guess she trusts you."

"Question is… will you?"

---

"So how long before you can go out at night without trying to leave me with a babysitter?" Sam asked as Brooke stepped through Haley's front door.

"Depends," Brooke kinked her brow. "If I leave you alone in the house, are you gonna try to throw another party or hide some boy in your room?" she asked when Julian's words echoed in her mind.

"Never gonna live those down, huh?" Sam asked, but there was humor in her voice.

It was a good sound for Brooke to hear. It gave her hope that things wouldn't just go back to normal... they'd get even better. But before Brooke had the chance to voice it, Haley walked in carrying a steaming mug. "Thank god," she groaned. "If I had to listen to Sam and Nathan fight over who the Mario Cart champion was one more time, I was gonna throw both of them out the door."

"Actually, I believe her threat was more along the lines of throwing Jamie's Wii out the door," Sam corrected and smirked when her teacher simply rolled her eyes.

"Either way."

"Well as much as I hate to interrupt the beginning of what'll probably a riveting argument...," Brooke sarcastically interjected as she spied a slumbering Jamie on the living room couch. "We gotta get going."

"I guess that's my cue. I'll go get my stuff," Sam volunteered while Haley lingered behind with a concerned expression adorning her features.

"So how'd it go with Julian?" she asked once the teen was out of earshot. Straight to the point as always.

"Well..." Brooke trailed off as an image of the dark haired producer flashed in her mind. "I told him I'd do the costumes for the movie," she admitted, shrugging. "He said I'd have carte blanche and considering that my only client right now is Peyton, who isn't exactly paying me for the dress... I figured it was a pretty good offer."

"If you need money..." Haley began.

"It's not the money," Brooke quickly interrupted, knowing that her friend was about to make an offer. "I have more than an enough to last me until I get the new company off the ground." Thankfully she had listened carefully when her financial adviser spoke and because of it, she was able to work on the new line at her own pace. There wasn't a debilitating crunch to hurry things along like there had been when Clothes Over Bro's first got started. Or more specifically, when Victoria began to run it. "Trust me... finances aren't an issue."

The shorter brunette frowned, "Then what is the problem?"

Brooke could only shrug. "It's hard to explain," she said and tried to put into words what had been bothering her for weeks now.

She knew that there was more to it than missing Angie, or being attacked in the store. That her problems stemmed from something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Since I decided to start the new company, I've designed a few things here and there but for the most part...," she trailed off uncertainly. "For the most part, lately I can't help but feel creatively stunted," Brooke finally admitted and crossed her arms over her chest protectively. "I'm glad that Sam and I are on the road to recovery and you know that I love being an extended part of the Naley family but... I just need something more and the problem with that is... I have no idea what it is."

"It's okay, Brooke. I know exactly what you mean."

"You do?" she asked, sounding half hopeful, half relieved.

"Yeah, of course I do," Haley assured. "I love Jamie and Nathan with my entire heart. They're everything to me."

But if she hadn't voiced the words, Brooke still would have known it every time Haley looked at her son and husband.

"So I couldn't understand why I still wanted music if I had everything I needed between my family and teaching," she openly admitted, though Brooke couldn't help but frown at the thought.

"But music is just as much a part of you as teaching is. It's who you are."

"I know," Haley smiled. "Now. But I didn't understand it at first and what made things even worse was that I felt like I couldn't write anymore. I'd sit in front of the piano or hold my guitar in my hands and it was just... nothing. So I thought I was done. That that part of my life was over and I was just hanging on to a memory of what could've been."

"But you weren't."

"No," she agreed, smiling once more. "I just needed to go back and find it all again. That place inside of me that makes music."

There was the relief again. The feeling that someone understood and that she wasn't selfish for wanting more.

"I see what you're saying," Brooke murmured. "And its why I said yes to Julian," she admitted, thinking about the words he said just before she agreed. "I've been really mixed up inside for a while now, but one thing I do know is that it all began senior year. The confidence to do it all came from a handful of designs that Mouth posted on the web." There was nostalgia in her voice as she looked back on it all. "And I guess I just hope that working on the costumes might take me back there, you know? That I might find a hint of the inspiration that I lost somewhere between then and now."

Haley's smile turned sympathetic as she rubbed a consoling hand over Brooke's shoulder. "Well considering his lack of honesty when he first came to town, I'm not exactly his biggest fan," she stated, all the while a quick and unwanted thought flitted across Brooke's mind. He wasn't the one who lied... Peyton was. "But if this is what you think is right for you," Haley continued, ignorant to the thoughts going on in Brooke's head. "Then I'm behind you a hundred and ten percent. You know that, right?"

"I know," Brooke smiled gratefully just as Sam paused in the doorway.

"Am I interrupting something?" she queried, carefully masking her expression.

Despite the progress they made, Brooke knew that they still had a long way to go before they smoothed out all the bumps in the road. "No," she shook her head. "I was just telling Haley that I've accepted Julian's offer to be the movie's costume designer."

Uncertainty turned to incredulity. "So he actually talked you into it?"

"You already knew?" Brooke asked, surprise lighting her features.

"Well yeah..." Sam hedged before finally rolling her eyes indifferently. "I mean... you know, he sort of mentioned it a couple days ago," she said, referring to the conversation they had in the diner over coffee and pie. "I wasn't sure if he'd actually go through with it though or that you'd actually say yes."

Brooke shrugged and pretended that she didn't see Haley's speculative glance when she replied, "I suppose you could say that he made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"Whatever that means," Sam muttered and rolled her eyes once more.

Brooke ignored the look and instead pulled Haley into a friendly hug. "Thanks tutormom. I owe you one."

"Anytime, Tigger," she smiled.

"Old people are weird," Sam declared, to which both women uttered a defensive, "Hey!"

---

Later that night, after the lights had all gone out and Sam was snoring behind her bedroom door, Brooke wandered around the living room.

Despite her best efforts not to, she couldn't help but think about the conversation she'd had with Julian. The words he spoke as if he saw something in her life that she'd been standing blind to. But most of all... how much it scared her to admit he was right.

"Question is... will you?"

"I trust you enough to be around Sam," Brooke replied simply. "Beyond that... whatever I feel towards you just doesn't matter."

Julian smiled, "Sure it does."

When her eyes met his, Brooke quickly looked away. "I should go."

"Do you always run away when things get uncomfortable?"

"Who says things are uncomfortable?" Brooke instantly responded. "And I'm not running away," she denied.

"You are," Julian declared as he took a few steps back. Guessing that she needed a little space, he retreated to the couch and made himself comfortable before continuing. "But I wouldn't feel bad about it if I were you. All your friends do it too," he shrugged.

"Reading a book about a few high school events does not make you an expert on all things Tree Hill," Brooke retorted hotly. "And it definitely doesn't make you an expert on me and my friends."

"Then what does it matter what I think?" he baited and just managed to hold in a grin as she turned her flashing hazel eyes on him.

He may not have known her for long, or even as well as he pretended, but Julian could see the annoyance she tried to hide. It shone through in the form of a crease along her brow and the stubborn set of her jaw.

"It doesn't," Brooke finally said, feigning nonchalance.

This time he did smile as he said, "Right."

"Forget it," she bit out. "I don't even know why I bothered," she said and began to walk off, Julian hot on her heels. He reached out and gently grabbed her arm, spinning her close in the process. "Two nights in a row... I might start thinking you like me or something," Brooke retorted as she looked between Julian's face and the arm holding hers.

"You'd probably be right," Julian replied without missing a beat.

"Trust me, this is not..."

"What you need," he finished for her. "I know."

She kinked her brow in question but said nothing as he slowly released his hold. The surprising thing though, at least to Julian, was that she didn't try to walk away once she was free again. Instead she continued to stand before him, waiting for something unknown to him.

"I meant what I said about trusting you with Sam," she declared as a quick wave of gratitude washed over her. "Despite how adamant you've been about not being 'that guy' you still really came through for her. I'll never be able to repay you for that, but..." Brooke trailed off uncertainly. "But I still don't trust you with me."

Julian smiled, "Or is it that you don't trust yourself when you're with me?"

"Maybe a little of both," she conceded.

Nodding, Julian couldn't resist allowing his hand to brush against hers for the briefest moment before taking a step back. "You know, I still really need a costume designer for the movie. And since you no longer think I'm out to corrupt your foster daughter... maybe you're a little more open to the idea of working with me on this."

There it was again. The nervous little feeling in the pit of her stomach that she didn't quite understand. Nor did she want to understand it. "Julian, I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Afraid you can't control yourself?" he grinned, teasing in the hopes of making her feel more comfortable. He knew she kept her guard up when things got serious and hoped a little verbal sparring would loosen her up a little.

"You wish," Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Every night."

And there it was. A brief smile that she allowed him to see before she nodded once, conceding. "Fine. I'll do the costumes on one condition."

"You can have carte blanche if that's what you were wondering," Julian easily agreed.

"That was a given," Brooke replied without missing a beat. "I want your word that there's no ulterior motive. That it's just business. Nothing more."

Julian met her gaze steadily, searching to find what she genuinely wanted. "I can give you my word that I'm asking you because you're the best one for the job and not because I want to get in your pants," he stated before the corners of his lips turned up in a smile. "Though I can't promise that getting in your pants isn't something I also want. Sorry." Yet he sounded anything but.

"Wish what you want, just as long as you know it's never gonna come true."

"Never say never," he replied smoothly and leaned down to press a chaste kiss on her lips. All the while she asked herself, 'What have I gotten myself into?'