Baggage Claim

Brooke stood at the baggage claim waiting for her bags to appear as she let out a sigh. She had been traveling for well over fifteen hours to get home after her mom had called her at 11:30pm Zurich time last night letting her know that her father had suffered a major heart attack the day before. She had been on autopilot as soon as she hung up the phone and grabbed her already packed bags. She was leaving Switzerland in a few days to head back to Baltimore for graduation so she didn’t have much to worry about in the way of getting her things back home. She knew what the heart attack meant, she was sure that as soon as she set foot back in Cole Harbour that her mom was going to tell her she was too late. With the way that her father had drank over the years and took very little care for himself his quality of life would be very poor if he made it through these next couple of days.

Brooke wrapped her cardigan around her body tightly, feeling like all the warmth had left her body and tried to stop her shaking. She wasn’t ready to see her dad but she also wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him either. They had talked a few times since she had left for Switzerland, after he helped her make one of the most difficult decisions of her life and it opened up some doors for their relationship. They didn’t talk long or too in depth but the “Hi” and “How are things?” were a step in a positive direction.

She spotted her bags, having come off the plane together and grabbed them before they passed her. They were heavy and Brooke didn’t know if she had the energy anymore to get them to her parents house. She gathered everything and wheeling her bags out into the main concourse looking for the sighs that would direct her to a taxi. It was weird being back in Nova Scotia after being away for so long. She felt almost out of place, like she wasn’t meant to be there and she frowned a bit. “Home sweet home,” Brooke said to herself as she looked around and took off in the direction of what she was hoping was the correct way. She walked a little further and saw a group of drivers standing with boards that held names of people arriving, most likely business men who had no idea where they were going. What caught Brooke’s attention though was a little old man whom Brooke had grown to love ever since he had become her father’s driver many years ago. “Charlie!” Brooke squealed as she ran to give him a hug. She felt tears starting the prick her eyes and let out a shaky breath as he rubbed her back.

“Hello Miss Blake. I’m happy to see you made it home okay,” he said chuckling a little bit at her embrace. She pulled away and apologized before turning to grab her bags. “Nothing to apologize for Miss, I just hope it’s alright that I came to pick you up. I didn’t want you to have to take a taxi after your long flight and figured you feel a bit more comfortable with a friendly face,” Charlie said as he took her bags from her and walked out to the parked town car.

“Charlie, it’s always okay for you to come and pick me up, thank you,” Brooke said trying to help him with the bags. He waved her off and walked to open her door for her.

Brooke fell into the seat and rested her head back against the head rest. She was exhausted, not having gotten any sleep on the plane and just from everything that had been going on that she felt like if she closed her eyes she would fall right asleep but knew that she would have to wait till after she saw her dad. “Anywhere you’d like to go before we get back to the house Miss Blake?” Charlie asked as he pulled out into the airport traffic. Brooke looked out her window, seeing all of the people arriving and being greeted by a loved one knowing that there was one place she wanted to be right now, even if that was another plane ride away but knew she needed to be here instead.

“Just home, Charlie.”
….

Brooke sat in the car looking up at the house noticing that not one thing had changed since that last she had been home. It was still the same house that she had grown up in but it just felt very different. She noticed that there were a few cars in the driveway, one she knew belonged to Trina and the others she assumed to be friends of her mothers. Charlie opened the door for her after Broke had failed to get out and she smiled weakly up at him. “Sorry, I’m just preparing myself,” Brooke said standing up out of the car.

“I figured you needed a little help getting your foot out the door,” Charlie said with a warm smile. Brooke nodded her head and took a deep break before she made her way up to the front door. She almost went to knock before catching herself and grabbed the handle, pressing down and opening the door. The house was quiet, making it feel like something bad had happened and Brooke was brought back to reality that something bad had happened

“Mom?” Brooke called out hoping for a response.

“Brooke, we’re in the kitchen,” Brooke heard her mother respond and she took off through the dinning room in search of her. As soon as Brooke walked through the door her mother engulfed her in a hug that almost knocked her off her feet. Her mom wasn’t very touchy feely with her and her brother as the grew up, so hugs were few and far between but Brooke knew that her mother needed this embrace more for herself than for Brooke. She wrapped her arms around her mother’s torso and rubbed her back.

“Hi, mom,” Brooke said in a hushed voice. Her mom broke the hug first and held her daughter at arm’s length.

“It’s so good to have you home, I really need you here,” her mother said, tears forming in her eyes. She was never emotional and Brooke really didn’t know how to go about handling this.

“I’m here now, okay?” Brooke said pulling her back in, trying to calm her before the tears really started to fall.

“Liz, why don’t we let Brooke settle in and you and I go lie down for a bit,” Trina said walking up and rubbing her mothers arm. Her mother let her go and sniffled a bit before smiling at her daughter.

“Sweetie your room is all ready for you, I’m sorry, I’m just really tired today,” she said trying to wave away the way she was acting.

“Mom, it’s okay, I’ll still be here when you wake up,” Brooke said taking her mom’s hand and giving it a tight squeeze.

“We’ll talk later,” Trina said pulling Brooke into a light hug and she felt a little bit better knowing that Trina was there to help her mom through this. She nodded and watched as the two made their way out of the kitchen towards the staircase. Brooke let out a deep breath and knew that this was going to be a tough time for her mom and that she was going to have to try and be strong for her but she didn’t know if she had anything strong left in her. Brooke sat down on one of the bar stools at the island and held her head in her hands. She felt like screaming and crying and laughing all at once but the energy to do any of those things was long gone. She heard the back door leading out into the back yard open and she figured it was the boys.

“Dude, he was sick when he played for New England but I don’t know how I feel about him now that he’s playing with Peyton,” Brooke heard her brother’s booming voice say followed but a very distinctive chuckle.

“What ever, Denver’s solid and as long as Peyton is still healthy I feel like their the one’s this year to take the title,” Nathan said in reply.

“Hey Brookie,” Brendan said as he spotted her and went and wrapped his arms around his sister. She hugged his arms in front of her the best could since he was behind her and patted his hands.

“Hey,” Brooke said in return, feeling eyes burning into her side. She knew who they belonged to but she didn’t know if she was ready to face them after all these months. Brendan removed his arms and walked over to the fridge and pulled open the door.

“Hey, Brooke,” Nathan said wrapping an arm around Brooke shoulders. Nathan and her brother had been good friends through out the years since playing t-ball together and spent pretty much all their free time off from practices and training with one another.

“Hey Nate,” She said turning to smile at him, trying to see behind him to get a look at Sidney but Nathan took up a lot of space.

“So now that I’m eighteen and playing in the NHL, how about that date you’ve been dying to go out with me on,” he said winking at her. She laughed at his attempt to be smooth but shook her head.

“And what makes you think that I’ve been dying to go out on a date with you,” Brooke asked him with raised brows.

“I mean who wouldn’t, but since you’re Brooke Blake, you’re get first dibs.”

“Dude, can you stop hitting on my sister,” Brendan said rolling his eyes before throwing a Gatorade at him and one to Sid. When Nathan moved to catch the bottle and went to sit on the counter Brooke finally got to see him. Even in his work out shorts and shirt, Brooke thought he looked just as hot as ever. She blushed thinking about how she had been travelling all night and could just imagine how gross she looked. When her eyes traveled up to his eyes he was already looking at her. Her breath caught and she looked away immediately feeling like she didn’t have the right to look at him anymore. “Brooke!” Brendan yelled, pulling her back into the present.

“What? Sorry,” She said turning back to her brother.

“I asked how your flight was,” he said looking a little confused.

“Oh, uh, it was good, long, but nothing really terrible happened to so, good,” Brooke said nodding her head. Brendan nodded his head and looked down at the label on his bottle, picking at it a bit. “Have you seen dad at all today?” Brooke asked, and saw him immediately freeze. He stood up from the counter and ran his hand through his hair.

“I, uh, gotta get going to practice,” he said before heading out the back door.

“I got him,” Nathan said jumping down and heading out after him leaving Brooke and Sidney in the kitchen together. She looked after her bother, confused about what had just happened and Sidney walked over and stood on the opposite side of the island from her.

“He hasn’t seen him or talked about it,” Sidney said, getting Brooke to look at him. This was the first time they had talked in person since December and it was weird having him stand in front of her.

“Has anyone tried talking to him about it?” Brooke asked finally making eye contact again. Sidney nodded his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

“He just shuts down. I found him at the batting cages right after it happened. Nathan and I have been keeping him out of the house as best as we can so your mom doesn’t have to deal with him too. But he’s acting as if nothing happened.” Brooke nodded understanding that her brother isn’t someone to share his feelings or let anything out. He’d rather pretend everything is fine and make jokes rather than deal with what’s right in front him.

“I want to go see him, I don’t want to wait any longer” Brooke said standing up from the stool.

“I’ll take you,” Sidney said reaching in his pocket for his keys.

“Sid, you don’t have to do that,” Brooke said shaking her head.

“It’s fine, let’s go,” Sidney said, turning to walk out of the kitchen, heading for the front door without another word. She could tell he was still really angry and knew that they were going to have to have a real talk about everything but she got the feeling that he was there for her no matter what had happened between them and she felt a surge of hope ignite in her chest for only a small amount of time.

Notes

Okay so I had been planning on just finishing this story after last chapter and just writing a "what happened" post but then decided that rather than having two stories that I should just continue on with this one.

I know there are a lot of un-answered questions, and I'm going to get to them, I promise but I can't explain to you how difficult it was to write this sort of transitioning chapter, and I know it sucks, A LOT, but I re-wrote it like 15 times and decided that I just needed to get the main point across so I could move forward.

I had originally planned to start my story out with this and then sort of do flash backs to them living together but decided that I should just write a story of them together. I really hope that you guys stay with me as I continue on with this and enjoy it!!!

Let me know what you think, give any suggestions, tell me what you think is going to happen! I love hearing from you guys!!!!! oxoxoxxoxox