Disclaimer: I don't own OTH.
A/N: Out of total hate for the show, I've realized that all of them don't deserve Brooke! I'm still so mad right now. I can't even right a few words for "Dinner Turned Engagement" and I hate it! I managed to come up with this though. I know it's a little played out, but I just wanted to know what you guys think about it. It's about 4-5 parts only. Here's the first part.
Title: What Does It Take For You To Open Your Eyes?
Chapter 1: Does It Take Death?
It had been days after the attack, yet no one seems to notice what's really happening to Brooke. Then there's Q's death. Everyone's just so devastated with it, that most of her friends missed the hand print on her arm. She's sitting on her couch, staring blankly at the fireplace. All she could think of was how to get revenge, when a knock brought her out of her thoughts.
She didn't really think of opening it at first. Try to pretend that she wasn't there. It seemed a lot like that recently, like she doesn't exist, but the person knocked once again, this time harder. So as much as she doesn't want to, she got up and opened it.
"Victoria?" The words came out of her mouth unexpectedly. To see her mother there was just, really unpredictable. Surprised couldn't have described her expression at that moment, she couldn't really place how she felt that time.
"Brooke, what happened to you?" Her eyes seemed to have grown wider. It looked like she actually cared, sounded even. Brooke however, just rolled her eyes. She ignored her mother's question. Much to her dismay, she kind of felt glad that her mother even asked what happened to her.
"Nothing." She says, just like what she told all her friends. She actually thought her mother would press her for details, but that idea went out of the window when she saw Victoria's company stealing face on.
"Whatever. I'm only here to tell you that I'll do whatever it takes to take the company." Victoria told her, then looked way past the brunette.
"You can try, but that's never going to happen." Brooke replies, trying to be brave. Bruised and all, still, here she is, fighting with her mother.
"I assure you Brooke, I can do it." Victoria threatened. When she was about to leave, Brooke felt relieved but not after what her mother said. "I see, that blonde friend of yours finally got tired of you. I wouldn't be surprised if you'll be left all alone for the rest of your life." Victoria finished and walked away.
She got so angry that she wanted to go after her mother and strangle her to death. Instead she went back in, and slammed the door as hard as she could. "Bitch!" She cursed. She didn't know tears started to fall. She felt how true at the moment what her mother had said. She's alone and no one seems to care. She said she won't cry, but there's no one else now, so she did. She broke down, cried her heart out, because in the morning, she'll have to be brave. She needs to take care of herself.
Morning came. Brooke had exhausted herself from crying the whole night. She didn't realize she fell asleep on the couch. When she looked at herself in the mirror, the puffiness of her eyes were concealed with two black eyes. If only she could conceal that too.
She put a brave face on, just like all those times she did in high school. But today, there's a difference. She's all by herself now. She doesn't even have Peyton. Suddenly, the name of her store doesn't ring true anymore, clothes over bros., buds over studs. How she wished Peyton would just sit with her so she could tell her what really happened, contrary to what she said that she fell of the stairs, in which the blonde believed and even laughed about.
She put on a black dress, the hand print on her arm visible. Nathan had asked her to come to Q's funeral. As soon as she's ready, she heard a knock on the door. Hoping it won't be her mother, she opened it. "Hi Nate." She greeted as she saw him standing outside her door. "Tough day, huh?" She says, trying to sound okay.
"I know there's a lot going on, but Haley and I are worried about you. Are you okay?" Nathan asks. It seems like that question had been asked to her a couple of times lately. Then again, black eyes don't really shout okay, do they?
"Nate, I'm fine." Brooke argues, tired of repeatedly telling them. Of course she's not fine! A guy just beat the crap out of her! How can she be fine? She wanted to tell him that, but she doesn't. Instead she just shakes her head.
"I know you have a lot of going on, but you need to talk about it. I've been there, and dealing with it alone is stupid. I don't want that for you Brooke." Nathan explains. He wasn't sure really if is he's saying the right thing.
"Nathan I'm-" She'll tell him again she's fine, but he cuts her off.
"Your fine. Yeah, that's definitely something I'd say. Look Brooke, I know how much it sucks that your parents are so not cut out for the job. I have those too remember? Just don't let it get to you. You're great on your own. You don't need their approval." He says. Brooke just forced a smile She wanted to say it wasn't about Victoria anymore, but she can't.
"They never really gave us a chance, didn't they?" She says wishfully. To this Nathan didn't say anything. Instead he hugged her. She flinched a bit, but he didn't seem to notice. She was just relieved that that was the case.
"I really appreciate you coming to the funeral. It would mean a lot to Q's family." Nathan says as he finally let go of the hug. Brooke nodded, forcing a smile to her bruised face. With that, the raven haired Scott left.
They have all agreed to meet up at Nathan and Haley's house. Everyone sat on the living room, all devastated about Q's death. Suddenly, Brooke had the urge to tell them how many people get raped and attacked. That what happened isn't really something impossible. That's when Jamie looked at her. He looked confused, and hurt. She felt her heart break. She didn't mean to scare off the kid. "I'm sorry." She says, and gets the need to excuse herself.
Lucas just looked at Brooke weirdly. He thought it wasn't the time to be going on about such things. He thought that one of his most valuable players just died and he doesn't understand why it happened to Q of all people. But not once, did it passed his mind about what happened to Brooke. Did he even notice the bruises on her face? Or was he just so torn out about Q's death?
Haley sensed there was something wrong, so she followed the brunette. She saw her standing outside by the pool. "Hey, are you okay?" She says as she rubbed a hand on her arm to comfort her friend. Thank God it wasn't the bruised one.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare Jamie off like that." Her voice was now raspier, like she was holding back her tears.
"I'm sure you didn't. Are you sure you're fine?" Haley asked again, this time, she too looked at the pool, as if wondering about all the things that happened.
"I'm fine Hales. Don't worry about me." She tells her, even though all she wanted to do was to cry and open up to her. She doesn't though. Instead she blinked back the tears and told Haley to go back inside. She never really like worrying her friends.
"You know I'm here for you right?" Haley says, and Brooke tries her hardest not to cry. She questions herself if not telling her friends would really be the right thing to do. But she also thought that maybe if they cared enough, they'd notice the hand print on her neck and arm. Slowly, she realized, maybe Victoria was right. No one really cares about her, and that she's bound to be alone for the rest of her life.
"Yeah." She simply answers, and then nods of toward the house, asking Haley to go ahead of her.
All of them finally reached the cemetery. It all seemed to much to bear for her, but for her friends, for them, she'll take it all in, because that's what she's always been. Someone who's always there for her friends. She watched how everyone mourned their loss. When it was all done an over with, when everyone finally said their goodbyes, it was time to go home.
It was then they noticed that Jamie had yet to do something. Nathan and Haley seemed to have been awful tired so Brooke offered to get the kid. She also thought it'd be a good time to apologize to Jamie for what had happened earlier. As they stood in front of the coffin, she watched Jamie cover it with the red cape.
Just when she thought she' be able to go through it without crying, that single gesture broke every defense she had. She cried, and it was a nice feeling that she had Jamie's hand to hold. Even if he doesn't even understand why tears are falling from her eyes.
Jamie watched her cry and they stood there for a minute. The little guy looked up at her and when she finally noticed she tried her best to stop. "It's okay Aunt Brooke." Jamie says, gripping her hand tighter. "What happened to Q, I won't let it happen to you." He continues and then hugs her.
That was when she finally got down and hugged him too. Tears running down faster from her face faster than they should have. "I'm sorry honey. I didn't mean to scare you off earlier." She says in between sobs and she hugged the little guy tight.
Jamie ran his hand through Brooke's back. It's amazing how much relief a gesture like that could bring. From a far they could see Nathan and Haley's car. Brooke then let herself out of the hug and asked Jamie to walk to his parents because her car was parked on the other side. Jamie nodded and started walking. When Brooke saw the kid reach Nathan and Haley, she turned around and that's when tears started falling again.
"Why didn't Aunt Brooke walk you here?" Haley asked as she opened the car for her son. It was hard to see what happened between the two from their place.
"She said her car was parked on the other side." Jamie answered then continued. "She seemed really upset about what happened to Q. She was crying." He says, to this Haley looked to Nathan. Something was definitely wrong. "Don't worry momma, I told her I won't let what happened to Q happen to her." Jamie says, and with that Haley hugged him.
Karen, Lily and Andy just got back from one of their around the world trips again when they were stuck in traffic for a while, just about 20 minutes away from Lucas' house. When they passed they saw a car wreck. Andy felt sorry for whoever was driving it. It seemed impossible to survive a crash like that. Karen however, seemed torn apart by it. She heard from some people that it was a young woman. Life lost at an early age. She can't imagine if that happened to Lucas.
They drove and had ended up going to Nathan and Haley's house. To their surprise, they see all of them there. Karen almost assumed there was a celebration, if not for the sad faces and black tux and dresses. "Mom?" Lucas asked surprised to see Karen there.
"Lucas. My son, I missed you." Karen says as she went to hug him. Lilly then followed who only kept asking where Jamie and Brooke are. Haley then said Jamie's in his room and without a second, the little girl made her way towards Jamie's room.
"What happened?" Karen asks, full of concern. She then surveyed the scene and can't help but notice that there's something lacking, rather someone.
"Someone died." Karen was expecting that. She wanted however to know who it was. She almost assumed it's Brooke, but she always thought that if any of them were to pass, Brooke's would be the most devastating to all. "His name was Q. You don't know him, but he was one of our best players. He was a nice kid." Lucas continued.
"I'm sorry. I'm just glad it isn't any of you." Karen says trying not to add more sadness to each of them. She then looked to Haley who nodded, then hugged each of them for comfort. "You're all so lucky. We just passed by an accident on our way here." Karen shares.
"I also wanted to tell you something mom. I don't know if this is the best time, but Peyton and I are getting married." Lucas says. To this, Karen was surprised. A faint 'oh' escaped her lips. She's known Peyton ever since, but in her heart she's always pulled and rooted for Brooke.
"Congratulations!" She exclaims, ignoring that fact that it wasn't the brunette he's marrying after all. A few laughs were earned, but still Karen noticed it's incomplete.
When Peyton let go of the hug, Lily came out of the room with Jamie. "Lucas! Where's Brooke?" The little girl tugged on her brother's suit and looked up at him. He was then next met by Karen's questioning eyes. "Yeah, where's that pretty friend of yours?" Karen asks, addressing the question to everyone. No one seemed to know, because no one answered. That's when Jamie spoke.
"She said she was tired and said she's going to head home." He says as he held Chester with both his hands. Peyton, Nathan, Haley and Lucas looked to each other. How come not one of them know Brooke had decided to go home, while Jamie did? The answer was, because Jamie got to talk to her, and well them? They were busy with their own issues and didn't take time to really ask Brooke what happened to her.
There was an awkward silence for a while, everyone just glancing at each other. Then someone's phone started ringing. It's Lucas'. When he went to check it, an unregistered number flashed. "Who is it?" Peyton asked as Lucas held his phone in his hand.
"I don't know yet." He says as his eyebrows furrowed. He then answers the call. "Hello?" He says as everyone just watched him. He could hear sirens in the background. When the other person on the end of the line started speaking, he didn't know what to say. "No, no!" He says, refusing to believe what he's hearing.
"Lucas, baby, what's wrong?" Peyton asks, immediately clinging onto his side.
"There must've been a mistake!" He says violently, but the person at the other end insisted. "I'll be there as soon as I can." He finally says as he ended the call and ran towards the door escaping from Peyton's grasp.
"Lucas! What is it!?" Haley shouted while all the others were still surprised about his sudden outburst. He stopped briefly and looked at all of them as if all hope is lost.
"It's Brooke. There's been an accident." He says and with that, he was gone.
So? How was it? Do you hate me now?