The Way They Should Be

My Hero

Lucas and Nathan got off the bus and watched as kids ran out of the school, some screaming, many others had tears in their eyes and some were on their cellphones shouting things about guns. Lucas and Nathan exchanged glances and then turned at the sound of their names. Mouth and Haley were dragging behind what appeared to be an injured Peyton. They, too, were crying as the made their way towards the two shocked boys.

"What the hell happened?" Nathan exclaimed as he wrapped Haley up in his arms after she and Mouth helped set Peyton down on the sidewalk.

Mouth and Lucas immediately tending to her, as Hayley explained all that was going on.

Haley managed to get out through tears. "Jimmy just came out of nowhere and pulled out a gun and started shooting. After that everything was in chaos, we all ran for our lives. Peyton got shot in the foot so Mouth and I had to help her."

This was when Lucas finally started looking around for a familiar face, but not seeing it anywhere. "Where's Brooke?" He swallowed his dread, hoping beyond belief that his pretty girl was safe.

Peyton sobbed, her hands on Lucas' arms tightening. "S-she was right behind us."

Lucas' whole demeanor changed, he quickly stood, detaching himself from Peyton as she tried to grab at his arms. "Lucas!" The blonde shouted after him, tears running down her cheeks.

"Luke," Nathan called after him. "where are you going?"

Lucas wasn't listening, all he could think about was Brooke. Was she okay? Was she hurt? Had she somehow gotten away and he just couldn't find her? The worry and dread were tearing him apart. But something in the back of his head told him she was in the school. And he was going to find her.

...

...

...

There were backpacks and books strewn out all over the hall. There were empty bullet holes in the walls and lockers. His breathing became shallow when he started hearing someone talking. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but they sounded frantic. He turned the corner and what he saw made his heart stop. "B-brooke?" He gasped, his eyes zeroing in on his pretty girl, lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Jimmy was leaning over her, talking to her, only standing when he noticed Lucas stepping closer.

"Stop!" Jimmy exclaimed, pointing the gun at Lucas with his bloodied hands.

"Jimmy," Lucas whispered, his words thick with suppressed sorrow. "she's hurt."

Jimmy started shaking. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to shoot her... or Peyton."

Lucas choked back a sob, unable to keep his eyes off his girlfriend. She was laying prone on the floor, barely breathing. "T-that's okay. Can you just let me take Brooke to get help?"

"No!" Jimmy shouted, fear coating his words. "You can't!" He was trembling as he held the gun pointed at Lucas.

"Jimmy, please." Lucas begged, taking careful steps closer to Brooke. "She'll die." The word sounded like tar on his tongue, and it made his stomach tremble with sickness. "At least let me go to her, to stop the bleeding. Please."

Jimmy looked to be in confusion and distress as he let the gun drop to his side and he wiped his brow with the other hand. After a moment he finally nodded and waved Lucas over.

Lucas took no time in shrugging off his jacket and running towards Brooke, immediately covering her bullet wound on her abdomen with the jacket, to try and stop the bleeding as best as he could. He lifted her head and gently set in on his knee, shaking her shoulder slightly to try and get her to wake up. "Brooke?" He said, voice hoarse from suppressed tears. He was starting to fear the worst when she didn't reply, his heart dropping and tears springing to his eyes. "Brooke!" He shook her harder, sighing in relief when she blearily started to open her eyes.

"Lucas?" She whispered in a daze.

"I'm here, pretty girl." He said reassuringly, running a shaky hand through her hair.

"Luke, I'm scared." She whispered, pain lacing every word as she sobbed, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"I know, baby." He said, kissing her cheek. "Everything will be okay." He told her, trying to make himself believe it also when he turned around and noticed Jimmy was nowhere to be seen. "I promise," he told her as he turned back to look at her. "I'm going to get you out of here."

She gave a strained smile and reached out to caress his cheek. "My hero."

"Don't thank me until I get you out of here." He whispered against her ear as he lifted her into his arms and held her against his chest, his arms under her knees and behind her back.

Brooke gasped in pain and wrapped her arms tightly around Lucas' neck as he carried her down the hall, Jimmy nowhere to be seen. "L-luke, I l-love you." She whispered hoarsely. "I-I love y-you so much." She cried, tears falling down her cheeks slowly.

"I love you too, pretty girl. But don't talk as if your not going to make it." He demanded. "I'm going to get you out of here, and I'm never, ever going to leave you. You understand me. You're going to get out of here, and we're going to be happy with each other." He reassured, kissing the side of her head as he saw the doors to the exit come closer.

"Luke... i-it hurts." She whispered, her head lolling to the side, her hair falling over her face.

"I know baby, just hold on a little bit longer." Her urged quickly, his steps growing fast as he noticed that she wasn't responding as much and her eyes were fluttering. "Brooke," He gasped, as she completely went limp in his arms. "Brooke, baby, wake up!" He said as he slammed his way out of the school, cops and ambulance completely surrounding him. He wasn't even paying attention, all he could focus on was the girl being lifted out of his arms and placed on a stretcher. Everything around him was moving so fast, he didn't even notice the police coming up to him like he was some criminal all he could do was do what they said.

Lucas sat in the waiting room, his hands clutching strands of his hair as he waited with bated breath on news on what was going on with his Brooke. His girl was in there suffering and he was left sitting out in the waiting room, thinking and expecting the worst.

"She's going to be fine, Luke." Haley reassured, rubbing his back comfortingly.

"You didn't see her." Was all he could say as he ran a hand over his face, as if to wipe off the exhaustion.

"Hey, I brought coffee." Peyton said as she limped over to them with a couple coffees.

"What are you doing, the doctor told you to not walk so much." Haley chastised as she hurried to help Peyton, Lucas unable to do anything but sit in the same spot he's been in for hours.

"Has anyone come out yet?" The blonde asked, going to sit next to Lucas, nervously eying him as she watched him stare emotionless at the far off wall.

Haley shook her head. "Sadly, no. And they won't tell us anything that's wrong with her either, because we're not "family"."

Peyton shook her head in disbelief. "We're as good as her real one. Here Lucas," she whispered, handing him the small cup of coffee. "drink it. It'll keep you awake, you look like your about to pass out."

Lucas snapped out of his daze and look at the hand that was holding his against the coffee cup. For some reason he got the feeling that Peyton was just trying to touch him, to get some comfort of her own, but right now he was as good as dead as long as he didn't know what was going on with his girl. He was so worried, he'd never been so scared in his life, he was only thankful enough that the police let him ride in the ambulance with Brooke. But then he was immediately pulled away from her when the doctors ushered her into the ER and made him stay back in the waiting room. Ever since then they've been keeping him out of the loop and he couldn't stand it.

So desperately he wanted to see how she was doing, if she was okay. To at least know if she was going to make it. His pretty girl had been shot... Those thoughts kept ringing in his head and he couldn't stop them. What if she died? What would he do? They had just gotten back together after his screw up with Peyton, he hadn't even had time to make everything up to her.

"Are any of you related to Brooke Davis?"

Everyone stood up and Haley was the one that quickly answered. "I'm her sister."

The doctor nodded. "Do you want to talk alone?"

Haley shook her head. "No, they can stay. They're practically family." She said softly, knowing for a fact she wasn't a good liar and that if she said too much it might become obvious.

"Well, we stopped the bleeding and took the bullet out. She was in a dyer situation, but she pulled through and made it to where we could make her stable. She's going to be sore for a long while but she'll pull through.

There was a wave of sighs from the group of teens. "Can we go see her?" Lucas asked, his voice thick.

The doctor nodded. "One at a time though." And then he left.

Haley turned to Lucas and Peyton. "Why don't you go first, Lucas. We'll wait here until Nathan comes."

Lucas nodded and headed towards the room where Brooke was, hoping she'd be awake so he could talk to his pretty girl. He took a deep breath as he opened the door, hating the sterile walls and smell of antiseptic. The monitor hooked up to Brooke was beeping at a steady rate, which made Lucas all the more uncomfortable, but also somewhat at peace. He was glad to know that his girl was going to be safe and was going to make it through.

"Broody." Brooke whispered hoarsely with a soft smile.

"Brooke," he sighed with relief, reaching her side and kissing her on the lips. "you have no idea how worried I was." He whispered against her mouth, pushing back a few loose strands of hair so he could see her eyes.

"Pretty worried, I can imagine." She giggled, rubbing his cheek affectionately. "Thanks for being my hero, Lucas." She said softly. "I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for you. I love you."

Lucas smiled, giving her another kiss. "I love you too, pretty girl. You have no idea how much."

A/N: Hi everyone, I'm newly acquainted with the whole One Tree Hill fan-base, but I've always been a fan of Brooke and Lucas, and I was so disappointed with how a lot of things happened with their relationship. I felt like there was a lot of loose ends and I just really don't like Peyton ending up with Lucas. So the way I'm going to do this, is by asking those who read this to give me a part of the show that somehow should have had a Brucas moment but didn't, and I'll write it out. It's going to be a bunch of one-shots, but if you want to make this into a continuous story, I can do that too.

Please review and tell me what you think.

I don't own One Tree Hill or the actors/actresses

Jung-Hee