Hello, everyone! Here's yet another AU Brucas story (my very favorite kind). Here's the premise of this one: after the Brucas breakup, Brooke spirals downward because of a secret that only Peyton knows. What she needs more than anything is her friends, but she seems to have lost them all.

"Look at her," Haley said with disgust as she stood with Nathan, Peyton, and Lucas at a post-basketball party. They were watching Brooke Davis dance on a table seductively, progressively wearing less and less clothing.

"It's disgusting," Peyton agreed. "It's like we don't even know her anymore."

Lucas Scott didn't feel as disgusted as his friends. He felt disgusted at the looks his ex-girlfriend was receiving from lewd men, but he wasn't disgusted with her. If anything, he was afraid for her. The glassy look in her eyes and the way she was moving indicated that she wasn't drunk; there was something else happening with Brooke, but ever since their break up a month before, she had frozen him out. At first, Haley had explained to him that spending all of his time with Peyton was what was hurting his case. But soon, he had grown tired of what he saw as her games and he gave up. When he gave up on Brooke Davis, it seemed that everyone else had, too. Peyton had abruptly halted her efforts at repairing their friendship, and Nathan and Haley had ceased their efforts to spend time with her. The couple had even taken to ignoring the once beloved brunette due to her wild child behavior. Soon enough, Brooke Davis was the one thing that Lucas knew she feared; she was completely and utterly alone.

Her hazel eyes locked on his and she faltered for a moment, the hem of her shirt halfway up her stomach. For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of pain cross her face, but if it did, it was fleeting. In just seconds the blank stare returned and her shirt was over her head, leaving her in just a black lace bra.

"There's nothing to see here!" came a determined voice. "Move along!"

The men surrounding Brooke seemed to ignore it, but her eyes became undoubtedly grateful as Mouth McFadden reached up a hand and pulled her off of the table into his arms. Lucas felt a flood of jealousy fill him as he watched his friend put his jacket around the brunette, leading her toward the bathroom.

"Maybe we should check on her," he suggested.

"Luke, it's over," Peyton said, her voice laced with pity. "She's gone out of her way to prove that to you."

Haley sighed sadly. "I just really thought we knew her better than this, you know? What did Rachel say about that night at that club?"

"She said Brooke had a threesome in the men's bathroom," Peyton said with a wrinkled nose. "And that was only a week after you two broke up."

Lucas sighed. He had heard this story many times, when his friends were trying to convince him that Brooke was no good, that she had obviously fooled them all and now her true colors were coming out.

Part of him supposed that they were right. The other part of him wanted, more than anything, for them to be wrong. He had truly believed that Brooke Davis was the girl for him, and he the guy for her. They had spent blissful months together, only for it to be abruptly cut short with a dizzying lack of information. When he had gone to Peyton, her best friend at the time, the blonde had promised over and over that she knew nothing of any possible motives that Brooke could have.

"I think I'm gonna go," Lucas said suddenly, taking his keys out of his pocket.

"You haven't been drinking, right?" Haley asked cautiously. He shook his head.

"Not at all," he said honestly. At every party he had attended since his break up with Brooke, he made sure to stay sober, just in case she needed to get home somehow. She would never ask him, he knew that. But he liked to know that he would be capable.

"I've had a couple of beers," Peyton chimed in. "Would you mind taking me home?"

"No problem," Lucas agreed. "Let's go."

He threw an arm around her in what, to him, was a platonic fashion, and led her out of the house, not noticing the hazel eyes that were narrowed in hurt and anger, the numbness finally receding. The brunette spun around and returned to the back bedroom, determined to sink herself back into oblivion.

Brooke and Lucas

A knock at Lucas's door very late that night startled him awake, and he went to the door cautiously, opening it with confusion.

"Luke," Mouth panted, struggling to cradle Brooke in his arms. "Something happened, she begged me not to take her to the hospital and you were the only person I could think of."

"What the hell happened?" he asked, letting him in and watching his friend dump Brooke unceremoniously onto his bed.

"Brooke has been really screwed up," Mouth conceded, brushing her dark hair out of her face. It was obvious that this was not the first time Mouth had taken care of Brooke this way. "Ever since you two broke up, she's really gotten out of control."

Lucas forced his features into an indifferent mask. "She didn't want to be with me. She's not my problem."

Mouth looked at him with disgust. "You know, I called Haley before I came here, and she said nearly the same thing. I tried Peyton, too. I knew Brooke would be embarrassed if I brought her to you, but I thought that you, out of all of them, would care."

"Why should any of us? We don't know her anymore."

"Less than a month ago, you were supposedly in love with her," Mouth admonished. "Now she's dead to you? At least now I know where not to go if I need a friend."

"Mouth-"

"You guys are really messed up," he said coolly, struggling once again to haul Brooke into his arms. "Brooke has done nothing but care about all four of you, and you repay her by ignoring her in her time of need. I'll just take her back to my place and figure it out myself."

Mouth was nearly out the door before Lucas dropped his act. "Mouth, wait. Please. Let me help."

Mouth looked at him dubiously. "You obviously don't care."

"It's not that I don't care," Lucas pleaded, watching as Brooke slipped even further from his friend's grasp. "I just don't understand. I think that's the same way that Nathan, Haley, and Peyton feel. We just don't get what happened and she shut us out. That hurt a lot."

Mouth heaved a sigh. "I wouldn't stay if I didn't need help. Look, I don't even know what's going on with her, and I've been doing this with her four to five nights a week. It doesn't usually get quite this bad. The point is, I help her. Whether she wants to tell me what's wrong or not."

"But-"

"Would you do this to Peyton?" Mouth said suddenly and angrily. He had deposited Brooke on the bed once again and sat beside her, running a worried hand over her flushed face.

"What does she have to do with anything?"

Mouth laughed humorlessly. Lucas had never seen him this way, and he supposed it was his experiences with Brooke in the recent weeks that had turned him this way.

"Because you'd always save Peyton, but you'll never care enough to save Brooke."

That set off a siren somewhere within Lucas, and he gritted his teeth. "You don't know anything about that."

"I'm the only person who still talks to Brooke," Mouth said accusingly. "I probably know more about your little triangle than even you do."

"Really," Lucas scoffed sarcastically as he went into the bathroom to wet a handtowel to put on Brooke's head. "And what is that?"

"How about that Peyton told Brooke she still had feelings for you right after you kissed her. Again."

Lucas froze midway through handing Mouth the rag. He blinked, his face suddenly blank. "Excuse me, what?"

"You heard me," Mouth said, snatching the cloth and pressing it to Brooke's forehead. "At Nathan and Haley's rehearsal, she told Brooke she was in love with you."

Lucas felt his blood freeze as he looked at the broken brunette lying on his bed. He and Peyton were going to have a talk in the morning, but Brooke was the important thing at hand.

"What is she on?" Lucas asked, changing the subject quite obviously. Mouth heaved a tired sigh.

"I'm not entirely sure. It could be anything," Mouth said defeatedly. "She doesn't really have a drug of choice, she sort of just does them all depending on her mood. When she's up I'll be able to tell."

"Brooke," Lucas said firmly, gently tapping her cheeks. "Brooke, wake up."

Her pale, hot face didn't even flinch and Lucas felt his heart rate speed up in concern.

Mouth sighed once again and struggled to lift her, half dragging her into the bathroom where he messily lowered her onto the floor of Lucas's shower, turning the water on abruptly.

The cold seemed to work, and Brooke was sitting up, spluttering and coughing.

"What the hell," she slurred. "Where the fuck-"

Lucas appeared in the doorway and her eyes became wide.

"You have some explaining to do, pretty girl," Lucas said softly. Brooke shook her head and attempted to get up to run, but Lucas kneeled down to help her. He lifted her easily, ignoring the wetness that was now sticking to his bare chest, and laid her on his bed. "What did you take?" he asked gently.

"I can't tell you," she mumbled. Her eyes were looking past him, staring at something on the wall, and her hands were trembling. It was terrifying to see her this way.

"Yes, you can."

"You'll get angry."

"No, I promise I won't."

She hesitated before slowly forming the words. "Heroin."

Lucas halted, completely shocked. Where the hell had she gotten her hands on heroin and why wasn't anyone doing anything about it?

"How could you let her do that?" he exclaimed, whirling on Mouth. Mouth sighed heavily and collapsed in Lucas's office chair.

"How could you?" he fired back.

And Lucas was left to contemplate that question as he watched Brooke struggle through coming down.