I always kind of wondered what would happen if Brooke was the one who was trapped in the library and got shot instead of Peyton in the school shooting episode so that's where this fic comes in...
Background:
Brooke never gave Lucas her letters, Lucas doesn't know about the letters, so pretty much everything in season 3 between Brucas leading up to the school shooting episode did not happen. Brooke and Lucas are not together and Brooke hasn't been herself since the break up. She talks to Nathan, Haley, Peyton and Jake but not Lucas. Brooke still found out about Lucas and Peyton and forgave Peyton but has yet to forgive Lucas. Lucas wakes up everyday regretting the mistake he made with Peyton and the fact that Brooke won't even look at him anymore. Jake came back and he and Peyton got together shortly there after. Nathan and Haley reconciled after she came back from the tour and are better than ever. What happens when the person Brooke can't even look at comes to her rescue when she truly needs him?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter One: That One Fateful Day
"Brooke, are you sure you're okay?" Peyton asked her best friend as they walked into school.
"Yes!" Brooke yelled, clearly frustrated. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
"Oh I don't know probably because you've been acting super distant from all of us since you and Lucas broke up." Peyton told her best friend.
"I'm not acting distant." Brooke responded defensively.
"Okay, you just go on believing that." Peyton laughed.
"Fine, to prove I'm not acting 'distant,' why don't you and Naley all come over this weekend and hang out." Brooke said.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Peyton asked.
"Peyton, don't start." Brooke warned.
"All I'm saying is that you gave me a second chance, why can't you give him one?"
"To tell you the truth I really don't know why I forgave you in the first place. I guess I just thought that you were my best friend and those are hard to find these days." Brooke replied honestly.
"A best friend is hard to find? You're Brooke Davis captain of the cheerleading squad and student body president; everyone in this school wants to be your best friend." Peyton exclaimed.
"Yeah but those people don't really matter because they just want to be my friend because I'm popular. You on the other hand have been with me through thick and thin, you've always been there when I needed you most and I know that you always will be and I don't think anyone could ever live up to being the best friend that you are P.Sawyer." Brooke told her best friend.
"You're the best kind of friend a girl could ask for, you know that?" Peyton asked hooking her arm around Brooke's.
"I know." Brooke laughed.
"So, do you think that you and Lucas could maybe try to work things out? Maybe having us all there won't be so bad, it may ease you're nerves." Peyton said.
"I'm just scared." Brooke replied.
"Scared of what?" asked Peyton.
"Scared that I'm going to fall in love with him all over again." Brooke whispered avoiding eye contact with Peyton for as long as possible.
"What?!" Peyton exclaimed. "Brooke you have to tell him how you feel!"
"No! And you cannot tell him what I just told you." Brooke warned.
"Fine, but for all you know he could feel the same way…" Peyton said nudging Brooke's side.
"It's just better this way Peyt—" Brooke started to say but completely went blank when she turned the corner and saw Jimmy Edwards standing less than 30 feet in front of her with a gun pointed directly at her and Peyton.
The events that followed were a blur for everyone in the school. Students yelling and screaming, papers flying everywhere, tears running down perfectly made up cheeks, everyone looking for safety in a place most expected to be safe.
Just as the boys varsity basketball team was unloading off the bus after their rigorous morning practice, students were fleeing the building from every direction. Peyton was one of them and she flung herself at Lucas, the first person she knew since exiting the building.
"What's going on?" Lucas yelled.
"Someone…gun…Brooke's inside…sorry." Peyton tried to explain but she couldn't form the words.
"Brooke's in there?" exclaimed Lucas.
"I'm so sorry Luke, I thought she was behind me but she wasn't." Peyton sobbed.
The thought of his Pretty Girl in there alone with a gunman scared Lucas half to death. If something happened to her and she didn't know how he really felt about her he didn't know how he could go on living in a world with no Brooke Davis. This thought alone caused him to sprint into the school ignoring Whitey who was ordering him back on the bus. Peyton, against her will, was shoved onto the bus and brought to the old gym the boys had just left.
"Lucas!" Whitey called after him.
"I can't leave Brooke in there, she hates being alone!" Lucas yelled back, his voice cracking.
Nathan had pushed his way off the bus and was running after his brother, he wasn't going to let him go in that building if he had anything to do with it.
"Let go of me!" Lucas screamed at Nathan who had grabbed hold of Lucas' arm.
"You're crazy if you think you're going in there!" Nathan told his brother.
"What if it was Haley?" Lucas asked, at this Nathan immediately tensed up.
"Go get Brooke." Nathan whispered, releasing his tight grip he had on his brother.
"Come with me and get Haley." Lucas responded.
At that moment Nathan realized that he hadn't seen Haley fleeing from the building and a single thought dawned on him. She's always in the tutor center before school starts.
"Let's go." Nathan said. And with that the Scott brothers ran into the school not listening to a hysterical Whitey screaming at them to get back on the damn bus.
Once they got into the school they found it was barren except for the notebooks, backpacks and papers that had been strewn across the hallways when the first gunshot when off.
"Oh my god." Lucas whispered.
"What?" Nathan asked.
"There's blood." Lucas said pointing down to a small pool of blood on the floor.
"Don't assume anything Luke, it's probably not Brooke's." Nathan tried to comfort his brother but he didn't really believe his own words.
"I'm going to follow the blood, you go find Haley." Lucas told his brother.
"All right." Nathan responded.
"Nate," Lucas called after his brother.
"Yeah man?"
"Be careful."
"You too." Nathan said.
After following the trail of blood down several hallways Lucas finally came to the library. Great, this is probably the best place for the gunman to hide, there are so many places he can hide behind in here, Lucas thought to himself. Cautiously walking into the library still following the trial Lucas turned a corner, raised his bat and opened his mouth ready to say something but stopped suddenly when he realized who was sitting before him.
"Ah." Brooke whimpered in pain and in fear.
"Oh my god, Brooke come here." Lucas said gently sitting down next to her and pulling her close to him.
"Brooke, it's okay." Lucas told her when he felt her tense up as he pulled her shaking body closer to him.
"What are you doing here?" Brooke asked weakly.
"I'm here because you need me." He told her. "When we were together I told you I'd save you."
"This isn't what I had in mind." Brooke weakly laughed.
"Pretty Girl, you know that you're bleeding pretty badly right?" Lucas asked referring to the deep red blood that had soaked through her jeans and was beginning to stain the carpet.
"Yeah, I know but it's just glass so it's okay." Brooke responded.
Lucas took a closer look at her leg and it was not just glass. There was a bullet in her leg. A bullet was in his Pretty Girl's leg.
"Yeah, it's just glass." Lucas replied meekly, not taking his eyes off her leg.
After tying his shirt around her leg to try and stop some of the bleeding that would not seem to let up, Lucas returned to his former position wrapping his arm around Brooke's waist.
"Luke, is it normal for me to feel tired?" Brooke asked resting her head on his shoulder.
"Brooke, I need you to stay awake for me okay?" Lucas told her.
"I can't. It's too hard." She responded.
"I know it's hard but you need to. Here, let's play a game. You tell me about a good day and I'll tell you one of my good days, okay?" Lucas asked her.
Brooke slowly nodded her head.
"The day I won the election at school." Brooke said.
"Why that day?" Lucas asked.
"Because that was the first day that I felt like other people believed in me, like they thought Brooke Davis can do this. I felt like I was important to them and that they felt like they could talk to me about things I could try to get changed for school. For once people didn't like me because of my money or my looks or the fact that I'm Brooke Davis captain of the cheerleading squad. I was Brooke Davis Student Body President. You probably think that it's stupid because people always believe in you and I'm sure you really can't relate but for me, my own parents don't believe in me and the fact that the student body does is pretty amazing to me. Oh, and there's one other day that was a good one for me, the day I got my first DW Not I phone call. When Emily Shore called me and said she needed me to pick her up because she was too intoxicated to drive something dawned on me: I was that person not too long ago and look at how far I've come. I know that some people may not look at it this way but I changed someone's life, I did a good thing Broody." Brooke gasped when she said her own special nickname for him, she really didn't mean for it to come out.
"Lucas I'm sorry, it slipped." Brooke said looking up at him.
"It's okay." Lucas told her. He would have said more but he really was at a loss for words, Brooke had never opened up that much to him. Sure she had told him personal things before but the fact that she felt that no one believed in her before was enough to break his heart.
"Brooke?"
"Yeah?"
"I've always believed in you, Pretty Girl." Lucas whispered.
"Please Luke, don't." She pleaded.
"Don't what? Don't tell you that I've always believed in you? Don't tell you that you are an amazing person? Don't tell you that I beat myself up constantly for cheating on you? Don't tell you that I still love you?" Lucas silently cursed himself for letting that huge piece of information leave his lips. True, he loves her more than life itself but Brooke Davis wasn't supposed to know that.
"You wha- what?" Brooke managed to get out.
"I still love you Pretty Girl." Lucas told her.
"No, you can't!" Brooke yelled.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Because I'm not good enough. I never was and I never will be, that's why you cheated on me with Peyton. I was never good enough. I'll never be pretty enough, strong enough, talented enough, popular enough, smart enough. Never Luke. You can't love me, I'm unlovable." She said between sobs.
"Brooke, is that what you think? That I cheated on you with Peyton because you weren't good enough?" Lucas asked, his heart full of pain.
"Yes." Brooke weakly responded.
"That's not true at all Pretty Girl. Look at me," Lucas said to her placing her chin in his strong hand. "Peyton and I got caught up in the moment and we never meant to hurt you. You will always be good enough for me Brooke Davis." Lucas said placing a kiss on her lips, which to his surprise she returned by placing her small delicate hands on his freshly shaven face and they only separated when air became an issue.
"I love you so much Luke but it scares me." Brooke told him.
"What does?" Lucas inquired.
"The effect you have on me. When you found me in here all I thought was Oh great, just who I want to see. But when you wrapped your arms around me everything felt like it's supposed to. Just an hour ago, I hated you so much but now look at me I just told you I loved you Luke! It scares me because I feel so safe next to you, a feeling I don't feel often. And it scares me how much I love you Lucas. I love you so much that I'm scared to get close to you again. I know you said you wouldn't hurt me again like you did before and I believe you, but I'm just scared that one day you'll wake up and not want me, kind of like my parents. You make me so happy Luke, the way you can make me feel better no matter what kind of hell I've been through, the way I know you'll always be there, and the way you make me want to be a better person. I do love you I'm just scared." Brooke said with tears falling down her porcelain skin.
"It's okay to be scared Brooke, we all are." Lucas said as he rubbed small circles on her back trying to comfort her.
"Just promise me we'll make it this time." Brooke said.
"I promise Pretty Girl," Lucas responded kissing her. "Now let's get you out of here."
"Luke, I can't walk though I'm too weak and it hurts." Brooke told her boyfriend.
"I know, that's why I'm going to carry you out of here." Lucas said as he stood up.
"No one is going anywhere." Jimmy Edwards stated as he walked into the library pointing the gun at the couple and pushing Haley, Nathan, Bevin, Skills, and Mouth all who's faces where ghostly white, in front of him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So, do you all like it? Should I continue? Let me know by leaving lots of reviews, they make me happy!!