Home Sweet Home

Back in Tree Hill

Back in Tree Hill, Brooke had finally finished the breakfast rush and settled herself against the counter, sipping on a coffee and starting another design. She glanced back and forth between her sketch book and her phone. Sighing, she knew she couldn't focus unless she made the call, she slid the lock on her phone and tried Peyton for the second time that morning. It was worrying her that she hadn't heard from her since Friday afternoon after dropping the 'I have news' bomb on her. "Hey, You've reached Peyton, congratulations. Leave a message and I'll get back to you." She rolled her eyes and smirked at the voicemail. Some things never change. "Hey P. Scott, call me back!" Just as she ended her message, in walked Haley and a sleeping Lydia in the stroller. "Morning Tigger. What's with the long face?" "Peyton called me on Friday with some news and now she's not picking up, I'm kind of worried. Hey- why aren't you at the studio?" "I'm sure everything is okay. Otherwise we would have heard from Luke at the very least. Little miss is feeling under the weather, so I decided daycare wasn't a good option this morning." "Gotcha. You want?" She gestures toward her own mug. Haley shook her head. "I'm actually just stopping in before her appointment. Wanted to make sure you weren't in over your head for the day." "I'm great actually. I have some down time between the next rush, and Sawyer gave me a new design idea on our call Friday." Haley smiled. It had been some time since she had seen Brooke pick up a pen and design. "Well, are you going to keep me in the dark on what it is?" "Okay. So she drew me the cutest little picture with her stick 'models' wearing formal wear, and I was thinking, Baker Man is going so well, maybe it's time to branch out again. Why not try my luck on teen formal wear, you know? Prom gowns, and suits!" She said excitedly. "Oh Brooke, that's amazing! I can't wait to see what you come up with. Hey, one day the kids could be wearing them to their prom?" "Tutor wife, you're aging us up way too quick, I'm going to cry if I think about it...but it would be cute." They shared a laugh. "Alright well, if you don't need any help, I'm going to head out. I'll see you later!" She waved them off, and settled back into her designs.

Julian had dropped by the cafe with the twins later that day and found Brooke seated, with her sketch book, and a focused expression on her face. The cafe was basically empty, shy of an older couple finishing up their meal. He swooped his down for a kiss, and she looked up at him with smile. "Hi." She greeted him. "There's my babies." She put down the book and her marker, and slid off the stool to plant a kiss on their little faces from inside the stroller. "How were they today?" "We had a pretty great day actually, aside from you not being with us, of course." Ever the charmer, she thought to herself. "Well I'm just about ready to close up for the day, you want me to just grab something from here for supper?" She asked, putting away her sketches. "Sure thing. Hey, what were you working on just now?" He yelled back to her as she entered the kitchen. "It's a surprise. I'll show you just as soon as I'm done with it!" She said back to him.

Once the couple cleared out and tipped Brooke, she flipped the 'CLOSED' sign over and they headed out. "You know, I was thinking. Maybe we could take a few days off work." Julian raised an eyebrow in her direction as she pushed the stroller, where Jude and Davis had nodded off. "What for?" "Well, I was thinking we could go and visit Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer. You know we haven't seen them unless it's on a screen since our wedding. I just thought it would be nice to get back out to LA, and it would be our first family vacation!" She smiled at the thought. "Well, let me see what I can do about work and we'll talk more about it. I like the idea though, I'm sure the boys would love being able to play with Sawyer, too." "I love you, you know that?" He wrapped an arm around her waist. "I love you, too."