Day 1

Nathan sat in the back of the ambulance holding his brother's hand. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were just playing a game of pick-up when his brother fell to the ground. They knew that he had a heart condition, but he was taking his medicine so he should have been able to play a quick game with the guys. It seemed that it took forever for the ambulance to show up. The ride in the ambulance took even longer. They were only twenty-five. This shouldn't have happened. Lucas was supposed to be getting married in three months and Nathan was going to be his best man. Lucas had to be okay.

They pulled up to the hospital and Lucas was taken out of the ambulance and into the emergency room. Nathan tried to follow them into the room but he was stopped by a nurse, "I'm sorry, you'll need to wait out here. I'll come out here to get you when you can see him." The girl smiled at him and walked into the trauma room, leaving Nathan broken outside.

He took out his phone to make a call, "Brooke, you need to come to the hospital. It's Lucas. He had a heart attack." He hung up as soon as he heard her say she was coming.

Call number two, "Keith. I'm at the hospital right now. You and Karen need to get down here. It's Lucas, he had a heart attack. I'll tell you more when you get here. Should I call him? Keith, you know you're his father, not him. Fine, I'll do it."

The final call was going to be hell. It was easy talking to his friend and his uncle. He knew how to talk to them. He didn't know how to talk to his father. Thank God it went to voicemail, "Lucas had a heart attack. He's in the hospital… if you care." Was that harsh enough? No. Dan deserved much worse. He didn't even deserve to know, but in the end, he was Lucas's father.

It had been an hour when he grabbed the arm of a tiny little nurse running down the hall, "Hey, can you tell me about Lucas Scott? He's my brother."

She looked up at the man. He was absolutely gorgeous. Dark black hair and searing blue eyes. The look in his eyes was one of pure worry. She didn't know who Lucas Scott was, this wasn't even her floor, but the look in his eyes made her want to help. "Do you know what room?"

"He's in trauma 2, I think? He had a heart attack."

"Let me go check, I'll be right back."

He could tell that she really was going to help him, unlike the first nurse with the artificial smile.

Finally Brooke came rushing through the door followed close behind by Karen and Keith. Brooke ran straight into Nathan's arms crying like a baby. "Is he okay, Nathan? Please tell me he's going to be okay." Nathan didn't say anything, he just held her close.

"He's gonna be okay," Keith said from behind. "He's a strong boy, he's gonna be okay, I know it." Brooke ran to him and hugged him just as tight. Keith always knew the right thing to say. Even though he wasn't anyone's biological father, he played father to everyone in their little group of friends.

He saw the tiny nurse return accompanied by the first nurse. "Mr. Scott, this is Peyton, she's your brother's nurse while he's in the ER, so if you have any further questions she can help you." She gave Nathan another sincere smile and walked back to her floor.

"Is his family here?" Peyton asked.

"Yes." Seriously, did this girl not just hear him say he was his brother? "I'm his brother," he motioned for the rest to join him, "this is his fiancé and his parents."

"Okay, umm, Lucas has had a myocardial infarction," she began.

"What is that?" Brooke asked.

"It means that he had a heart attack. His heart stopped for a few minutes, but we were able to bring him back using paddles. He is stable but he is still unconscious, but you can see him now if you'd like."

"When will he wake up?" Karen spoke for the first time since arriving.

"We can't tell that right now. We're going to keep him in here until a bed opens up in the ICU. I can take you to him." Everyone except Peyton followed her into Lucas's room to talk to him, even if he was unconscious, they all knew that he could tell they were there.

Nathan walked out into the bay to smoke a cigarette. He really needed to calm his nerves. He sat down on the bench and watched the ambulances go in and out.

"Are you trying to become a patient yourself?" came a voice from behind him.

"What?" he turned around confused and saw the nurse from before. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but she was beautiful. She was petite in every sense. Even in scrubs he knew that she had a nice body. Her eyes were dark brown and her matching brown hair was in a big knot on the top of her head. It was absolutely a mess, but she still looked gorgeous.

"Cigarettes? You wouldn't believe how many lung cancer patients I've seen. Can't touch the things," she walked around to the other said of the bench.

He put out the cigarette and she sat down next to her, "Sorry, just trying to destress. My brother is lying in there unconscious and there's nothing I can do about it."

"You didn't have to stop on my account," she said pointing to the cigarette. "You know, I find drinking just as good, if not better, to take away all the tension." She gave him a smile.

"Didn't seem like the place to drink," he returned her smile.

Just then a little kid came running up to them screaming, "You're Nathan Scott!"

"Yes I am, and who are you?"

"My name is Andrew Adams. You're my favorite player of all-time," he said very exaggerated. "I watch every game. You're the best Bobcat they've ever had! What are you doing here?"

"Why thank you Andrew. I had to come visit a friend. Why are you here?"

Andrew looked down and the smile that had been across his face disappeared, "My mommy got hurt."

"Well, where's your dad?"

"He made my mommy hurt. They had to take him away."

Nathan looked at the nurse unsure of what to do, she spoke up, "Honey, does somebody know where you are?"

"No, there was some lady who was supposed to stay with me until my grandmother got here, but I ran away when I saw you," he pointed to Nathan and a little smile came back to his face.

"Well, why don't you come sit with us for a minute. I can wait with you for your grandmother." He lifted the boy up and sat him between him and the nurse.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. So, how old are you?"

"I'm seven, but I've been watching you play since I was a baby."

Nathan laughed knowing that it was impossible since he had only been playing for the Bobcats for three years, but no way was he going to let the little boy know that.

Andrew looked up at the nurse, "What's your name?"

"My name is Haley."

"Haley. That's a pretty name. Isn't it a pretty name?" he looked up at Nathan.

"Yes, it's a very pretty name," he said looking at Haley. 'A very pretty girl too' he thought.

"Is she your girlfriend?" the little boy asked.

Just then Peyton came out into the bay, "Haley, they've been looking for you everywhere. They're ready to transfer your patient."

Haley stood up to walk away, "I'll see you around," she said with a smile and went back to work. Nathan watched her walk away hoping that he would.

"So is she?" Andrew snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Not yet, maybe someday. So what does your grandmother look like?"

"There she is!" Andrew ran towards his grandmother, "MaMaw! Look who I met! It's Nathan Scott! He's the best player in the whole NBA! He let me sit with him until you got here. Isn't that cool?"

"So cool," the grandmother said trying to hide her tears with a smile. "Are you ready to go see your mommy?"

"Yeah, just one second," he ran over to Nathan and gave him a big hug. "Thank you. I'll never forget this."

Nathan smiled at the boy as he ran back to his grandmother and into the hospital. As the boy walked in Keith walked out. Keith went over to join Nathan on the bench.

"I could have sworn you would be out here for a smoke."

"I was, but then some spunky little nurse told me that I was going to get cancer, so I put it out. Any news?"

"Nothing yet. They've just gotten him a bed in the ICU and they should be moving him soon. You should go see him. He'd want to see you. There needs to be some testosterone in that room too. Those girls are driving me crazy. Come on."

After Haley finished the transfer of her new patient, she and Peyton went the nurses' lounge to drink coffee on their break. "How gorgeous was the brother of your patient? I thought I was going to faint when he talked to me to ask about him."

"Well it's a good thing you're in a hospital if you get riled up that easily," Peyton joked.

"You can not tell me that you don't find him attractive."

"Well, obviously, anybody with eyes can tell that, but he looks like a total asshole."

"He is not!" Haley protested.

"And how would you know?"

"Because I talked to him… kind of."

"What is kind of?"

"Well, I started to talk to him in the bay, but before we could really talk this little boy ran up to him and started freaking out. Apparently he's a Bobcat, whatever that is, and this boy was just in love with him. He was sooo sweet with the kid too. There was a domestic dispute deal going on with the kid and he ran away from DCS just to meet him, so Nathan said that he would wait with him! Then you came and got me before I could say anything more."

"The Bobcats are Charlotte's pro basketball team."

"Oh man, Nathan looked like an athlete. Did you see his arms?"

"Nathan? You're on a first name basis with him now?"

"Oh shut up Peyton!"

"So why are you on your break in here? I mean, you could be up working… and by working I mean flirting with your new patient's brother."

"Ugh! I know. Is it bad to want his brother to stay in the ICU?"

"Umm… yeah. I wouldn't let that get around. I don't think Nathan would like that."

"Shut up. I'm gonna go."

"You've got to tell me everything tonight!"

"I always do." Haley left Peyton and went back to her special new patient.

She was on her tiptoes changing the IV bag when he walked in. "Are you stalking me?" he said with a smile when he first saw her. She gave him a smile back and just continued her work. "How do you get around doing everything here?"

"What?"

"You're just so short. You can barely reach the IV bag. It's gotta be tough," he said jokingly.

"I am not short, I am just vertically challenged. And I get along just fine! Maybe it's not that I'm short, maybe it's just that you're freakishly tall," she spouted off at 100 miles per hour, obviously very offended.

"Haley, calm down, I'm just kidding."

She rolled her eyes at him, trying to hide the smile that appeared because he had remembered her name. "Well, I'm gonna go stalk somebody else now so that you can talk to your brother."

"It's not like he can hear me," Nathan said as she started to walk away.

Haley turned back around, "You don't know that. In fact, most studies prove the opposite. Even the unconscious brain can show activity in response to a recognizable voice."

"Do you always talk like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like a genius. Like you know everything in the world about medicine. I mean, you say I'm going to get cancer and then you say that my brother can hear me as if you know that both are true."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything," she said and quickly left the room. Maybe Peyton was right, maybe he is a jerk.

Fifteen minutes later Haley was standing at the hub talking with the other nurses when she heard someone behind her, "I'm sorry." She turned around and saw none other than Nathan Scott.

"For what?"

"For being mean to you. I'm just a bit lost right now, you know? I mean, that's my brother in there. It's just really stressful and I took it out on you. It's not your fault and I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, Nathan."

He smiled when he heard her say his name, just as she had done when he remembered hers. "Yes, I do. I was a jerk."

"Okay, yes, you were a jerk." Crap, did she just call him a jerk? She immediately regretted her actions.

Nathan laughed. "Have you seen the doctor? They still haven't told us anything new."

"I'll go find one," she knew what was wrong, but she couldn't stand to tell him, this time she was going to make the doctor do his own job.

The doctor entered Lucas's room to find the whole family around his bed, Haley was close behind him.

"My nurse," he pointed to Haley, "told me that no one has told you of his condition yet." The family all nodded their heads waiting to find out the verdict. "Well, it's not good. The initial heart attack is not something we are worried about anymore. It was when his heart did stop that the complications arose. He has had an anoxic brain injury, which just means that his brain was deprived of oxygen for too long. Right now we're just going to take this day by day. Do you have any questions?"

"Not right now," Keith said, "would we be able to find you later?"

"If you can't find me, my nurse, Haley, here can answer any of your questions." Haley gave a meek hand wave and a smile, then followed the doctor out of the room.

The Scotts looked at each other, "I guess the wedding is off," Brooke said finally breaking the silence.

"No, the wedding is not off Brooke," Karen went over to put a comforting arm around Brooke, "We might just need to postpone it a little while." As Karen and Brooke continued talking Nathan decided he needed to get away.

As soon as he got out of the room he collapsed onto the couch. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands. He tried not to cry. He was a big bad NBA player and professional athletes do not cry.

Haley watched him as he walked out of the room. She didn't even know him, but her heart was breaking seeing him that upset. She should be used to it by now, but Nathan seemed to be a good person. She never would have known that he was famous, he seemed so down to Earth. Before she knew it, she found herself sitting next to him.

Nathan felt a hand on his back and looked over to see Haley. He was immediately comforted. He had no idea why, he had just met this girl, but for some reason the simple gesture of her hand on his back made him feel safe. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know, Nathan. I wish I could tell you that he would be fine, but I really don't know. I'm sorry."

When he heard this Nathan began to cry. He didn't care if he looked like a baby, Lucas was the only person he could rely on in this world, he couldn't lose him. "At least you're honest with me."

As he continued to cry Haley couldn't stand it anymore. Once again before her mind could tell her not to, her body moved to give him a hug. He leaned his head into her shoulder and cried harder. Even though he was crying he still felt some comfort from her embrace. He never wanted her to let go. He put his arms around her waist and felt at peace.

Peyton cleared her throat, "Ahem… Haley, you ready to go?"

Haley immediately pulled away from Nathan as if he was on fire. "Oh yeah, you wanna get the car? I'll punch out and meet you down there."

"Okay," Peyton gave her a look of disapproval and went to get the car.

Haley looked back to Nathan, she put her hand on his back and rubbed it in an effort to comfort him, "I need to go before she leaves me." She gave him a smirk, "I'll see you tomorrow, though."

"Thank you." He returned the smile as she walked away, little did he know that his father had been lurking in the hallway watching the whole exchange.

The car ride home was quiet. Once they reached the apartment Peyton finally broke the silence, "So, are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid on this, Hales. You know what I'm talking about. What did I walk in on earlier? it is fine to flirt, but what i walked in on was not harmless flirting. You know you don't get attached to patients or their families. You do your job and keep your feelings out of it."

"You didn't walk in on anything. He was upset and I was trying to calm him down."

"Sorry, but I don't believe that. You like him. I can tell. I know you. I've known you since we were 14, I can tell when you like someone, so don't lie to me."

"So what? I like him. Sue me."

"You could lose your job!"

"No I couldn't. Stop being so overdramatic. You know what, I'm tired. I've been on my feet for 12 hours, so I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."