Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Sorry it has taken me so long to post this, I was having serious issues writing it. I rewrote it ten times before I wrote this. Still not too certain about it, though, so be gentle in the reviews.

Summary: Sequel to Overdose of Pain, Onslaught of Reality. After the incident at the river court, lives are changed. Some are lost and some must pick up the pieces and move on with their life. Graduation is four months away, but there are still many challenges to overcome. The first is will Peyton and Lucas ever get together? What will Haley say to Nathan's proposal? Will the Ravens win the elusive state championship? Prom is coming up, but there is the question of whose going with who. And what is Dan up to in all of this? Find out in Broken Hearts and Healing Minds.

Broken Hearts and Healing Minds

Chapter 1

Rain started falling from the sky in slow, wet drops, mingling with the tears on her streaked face. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This wasn't how it was supposed to end.

There were many things in life someone shouldn't have to do. One was watching the love of your life drag his already dead brother out of the river and try to revive him. Another was watching your best friend in the entire world slowly lose the struggle for his life.

Both were what Peyton Sawyer had to watch that rainy afternoon that was supposed to be one of the happiest of her life. Things had started falling back into place. Lucas had told her that he loved her and wanted to be with her after nearly a month of stony silences. Her father was going to be home a lot more often now. Her best friend, Nathan, had proposed to her other best friend, Haley. Everything was supposed to be perfect. Everything was supposed to be the opposite of what it was now.

Lucas had been the one to surface first. Peyton had felt instant relief at the sight of him, especially once he started swimming. That relief had turned to horror at the sight of where he was swimming. He wasn't swimming towards shore; he was swimming towards a limp form in the water, one Peyton had at first mistaken for driftwood. It turned out to be Ryan, the guy who had tried and nearly succeeded to kill Lucas twice in the past six months.

Lucas had begun to fight the battle against the currents as he turned back towards shore with Ryan in tow. He made it, barely. The second he reached shore, paramedics rushed towards him to help him out.

Peyton seemed frozen to the spot as the paramedics failed in their attempts to revive Ryan.

"He's not going to make it," she remembered one of them saying sadly. "He's too far gone."

Peyton's heart wrenched painfully as she had to watch Lucas struggle to take the news. He had risked his own life to save the bastard that had tried to kill him on more then one occasion only to find out that he had been too late.

"He can't be," Lucas had whispered hoarsely.

"You did all you could, son," the paramedic had said, placing a hand on Lucas's shoulder.

Peyton's heart broke into pieces as she watched Lucas slowly slide to the ground at the news, his face raw with pain and emotion. She didn't even notice at the time that he was gripping his ribs painfully and his breathing had become erratic.

"He's going into shock!" someone had yelled.

The last thing she remembered clearly of that scene was Lucas being loaded into an ambulance, unconscious. He had broken two ribs during his time in the river, and had a possible pneumothorax, which meant it was probable that a bit of his rib had splintered his lung. He had also had a lot of fluid build up in his lungs, which meant he was still in danger of drowning if they couldn't get the water out.

It had been too much for Peyton. She had refused the paramedic's offer of letting her ride in the ambulance with Lucas to the hospital. She wouldn't have been able to stand it if he died just inches away from her. So she decided to stay at the river court in the freezing rain, alone.

That had been nearly three hours ago. She had barely moved from the spot she had been standing in ever since Lucas's head had appeared above the river. She had merely sat down and kept staring out at the river, as though expecting someone to appear from it and tell her that this had all been a bad dream, that Lucas was just fine, and that Nathan hadn't been shot.

Footsteps sounded behind her, almost if they were on cue with her thoughts. Peyton barely acknowledged the person's presence, feeling too far-gone to care about what other people thought about her.

"Hey."

The voice made Peyton start in surprise. She hadn't been expecting anyone to talk to her.

"Peyton, are you okay?"

Peyton shook her head, fighting back the tears of anguish that threatened to spill over. She knew that this person wouldn't care if she cried or not, hell, he had seen her cry many times, but she had to keep herself under control.

"Not really," she whispered hoarsely.

"I heard about Nathan and Lucas," he said softly, sitting down on the wet ground beside her. "Any news?"

"I don't know, Stephen," she whispered, the tears breaking free of her hold on them. "I didn't go to the hospital. I couldn't. Not after seeing him like that."

Stephen sighed before he spoke again.

"Peyton, there's nothing you could have done," he said softly.

"I know," she whispered. "I know."

"Let me take you home," he offered.

"I don't want to go home," she said, her voice barely louder then a whisper. "I don't want to have to listen to my father tell me it's going to be all right."

"It will be, Peyton."

"How? How do you know that it's going to be okay? You weren't there! You didn't see what happened! If you did, you would know that nothing's going to be okay after this. Even if Lucas and Nathan make it, it's not going to be okay."

"Why?" Stephen challenged. "Why isn't it going to be okay?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Peyton sighed and shook her head.

"Everything's going to have changed. Nothing's going to be the same anymore."

"Maybe it's for the better? I mean, Ryan is gone and now Lucas doesn't have to worry about anyone trying to kill him."

"Maybe," Peyton echoed softly. "Maybe not. Either way, things are going to be different."

The hospital waiting room was unnaturally quiet, save for the sound of rain beating against the windowpanes and the muffled crying of the room's lone occupant.

Haley was trying her hardest to stop the tears from falling and the sobs from wracking her, but it wasn't happening. Every time she had thought she had calmed herself down, a new image of Nathan in arms, bleeding to death, or Lucas collapsing on the river court after having drug Ryan out of the river, entered her mind and started the hysterics all over again. She knew that there was a very good possibility that Nathan and Lucas both wouldn't make it through the next couple of hours, but she couldn't think of her life without them. They were a huge part of who she was and without them, she would be nothing.

She was supposed to be with Nathan. No matter how little sense they made together or how much stood against them, they were supposed to be together. Nathan had agreed to try to get a basketball scholarship to Stanford of all places just so he could be with her. He had asked her to marry him! The gods wanted them to be together, didn't they?

"Haley?"

Haley's mindless ramblings were cut short by the sound of her cousin, Brooke, coming over to her.

"Haley, what's going on? Why are you crying? Why are you here? Are Lucas and Nathan okay?"

"No," Haley whispered, her head in her hands. "Lucas and Nathan aren't okay."

"What happened?" Brooke asked, sitting in the chair next to Haley's and wrapping an arm around her sobbing cousin.

"Nathan proposed to me," Haley said, her voice breaking as she tried to wipe the tears away. "Then Ryan appeared and he had a gun. Lucas knocked the gun out of Ryan's hands and the thing discharged. Nathan got hit with the bullet."

"Oh my god," Brooke gasped. "Where's Lucas?"

"In surgery," Haley said, hanging her head in her hands. "He tackled Ryan into the river. I- I don't really know what happened, but something went wrong and he collapsed on the river court. It was awful, Brooke."

"And Peyton?" Brooke asked, fighting back tears of her own. Her voice was quiet and fearful. Haley shrugged.

"I don't know. She was at the river court when we left for the hospital, but I don't know where she is now. Brooke?"

"Yeah, Hales?"

"What am I going to do? Nathan might not make it. Lucas might not. What am I going to do if they don't?"

"Right now, you're going to stop thinking like that," Brooke said, her voice suddenly fierce. "They're going to be okay. They are going to make it through this."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know Nathan and I know Lucas. They're strong and they are fighters. Nathan won't give up, especially if you said yes to his proposal. You did say yes, didn't you?"

"I never got the chance," Haley admitted, tears starting to slide down her face again. She looked away from Brooke and at the now empty nurse's station. "Everything happened so fast that I just never got the chance. I was going to."

"And you are going to," Brooke said, her voice soft again. "He's going to make it, Hales. I promise you that."

Haley turned back to Brooke, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"I'm going to hold you to that," she threatened, offering a weak, watery smile. Brooke returned the smile almost instantly.

"I'm counting on it," she said. "Because he will be."
Haley sighed and leaned her head onto Brooke's shoulder.

"Brooke?"

"Yeah, Hales?"

"Thanks. For being here for me and everything. Especially after the way I treated you before you left."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else right now, Haley. You don't have to thank me."

"Then can I apologize?"

"No. You were right. Everything you said about me was true. But I've changed, Haley. And I really am going to try my hardest with my child."

"I know that you've changed. I shouldn't have said those things about you. Especially after everything you had been through. I really am sorry."

"It's okay, Hales. It's not your fault."

The entrance of a doctor interrupted their conversation.

"Family of Nathan Scott?"

Dun. Dun. DUN! Evil cliffhanger… but, that's to be expected. I know this chapter was pretty short, but I was having serious issues with this thing. I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Read and review, please!