Disclaimer: I don't own them The CW does.

Part one: I can Pretend to be okay.

She tried to ignore the warning signs. The way her body was telling her something was wrong. It had started that morning and was only getting worse as the day progressed. It felt like her whole chest was on fire. Like someone was poking her with a hot poker over and over again. Still Lux tried to ignore her body and would pop a Tums every hour.

"Chill out girl. Your fine it's nothing to worry about. Just some indigestion or something."

She tried reasoning with herself. She was thankful that Cate and Ryan were off promoting the station and she wouldn't be under their watchful eyes. No doubt Cate would over react going into the whole trying to be Super Mom routine and probably have her in a hospital so fast Lux's head would spin. Not a great way to spend her evening. This was nothing just a tiny blip in the radar and by morning everything would be fine. Lux was 16 now and had taken care of herself for so long, she really didn't need anyone to look out for her. That night alone in her bedroom in the attic she tried to sleep, tears of pain cascading down her face.

All night she was up off and on. She heard Cate and Ryan get home but didn't call out for her mom. She was perfectly fine. Closing her eye's she stayed perfectly still using the pillow to muffle her sobs. Finally the morning came and she waited for Cate and Ryan to leave for work. Once the door slammed and she heard the car rolling away she slowly pulled herself out of bed and even more slowly got dressed. By the time she was done getting ready it was nearly time for Baze to pick her up for school. The pain seemed to have lessened a bit so she made her way down the stairs, the room slightly spun but other than that she figured she could fake being okay. Patiently she waited for Baze to pick her up. Thank God it was the irresponsible parent taking her to school. He probably wouldn't notice anything was wrong.

Baze's car pulled up and he had a huge smile on his face, which quickly fell away once he looked at Lux.

"Hey kiddo! You okay you don't look so good." Damn so much for him not noticing.

"I'm fine, you know I had Cate's cooking for breakfast. It doesn't quite sit well" Lux lied. She clamed in and Baze started to drive. He didn't want to be one of those dad's who over reacted, but hell the kid looked like hell. Her face was chalk white and she was shaking a little. Oh Shit, was she on drugs? Had that Bug kid started her on heroine or something? Now drugs was one thing he would kill that boy for, well drugs and touching Lux impurely. That would result in the boy losing a very important body part. So lost in thought he didn't realize he had pulled in front of the school. She moved to get out but he caught her hand, he nearly pulled away because it was cold, so very cold.

"Hey did you get bit by a radio active spider?" He joked trying to make her smile. Instead she yanked her hand away and climbed out of the car. Slamming the door. She reminded him of an animal trying to escape it's hunter. He got out of the car shutting his door as well.

"No spider's Baze, just mom's cooking. Which is just as bad." She turned to walk into the school when a wave of dizziness hit her. Her heart hammered in her chest a fast rhythmic beat and it hurt more than anything had before. Her brain felt like it was on fire. The world was spinning around uncontrollably and she started to fall, the world going black..

Baze moved fast catching the small girl before she could hit the ground. He was so thankful for all the years of football and training. He held her she was unconscious and he started to panic. What the hell was he suppose to do. He noticed a few kids on cell phones.

"One of you call 911." He said as calmly as he could.

"Already did. They are on their way." one of them replied. The wail of sirens sounded and the paramedics were there before he had time to think. He backed away still holding Lux's hand though.

"Sir you need to move so we can get her on the gurney " the short paramedic said politely. He obeyed and watched in horror as the hooked his kid up to a gurney and checked her vitals. They placed her into the ambulance and turned to him.

"Are you related to her?" the other paramedic asked.

"I'm her dad." He replied Cooley as he could.

"Well then come on you ride with her. Sometimes it helps a patient to have a loved one near." she said kindly as she could.

Part 2: The hospital.

Nate Bazile was not a patient man. Lux had been whisked away once they reached the hospital and he hadn't been able to get any information out of the surely nurse at front desk. Once Lux was okay and he knew she was safe, he would write a very strongly worded letter to the head of this hospital about how nurses should at least be helpful and not so short tempered. All he had done was ask about Lux (ten times) for the past 20 minutes. Finally the nurse snapped and told him to sit down and as soon as she found out anything she would let him know.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He sat down then just as quickly jumped back up and started to pace again. He was debating on bugging the nurse again when the front doors opened an Cate all but flew threw them, Ryan not far behind her.. Her eye's frantically darted around and settled on him. He walked over to her and calmly as he could explained in detail what he knew. Which wasn't much thanks to that nurse behind the desk. Cate's eye's flashed and she marched over to the desk.

"Yes, may I help you?"

"I'm Cate Cassidy, my daughter Lux was brought in a little while ago. What is going on?" The nurse smiled brightly.

"Oh Cate Cassidy! From that morning show! My girls and I listen to you every morning. We are huge fans." The nurse gushed and Nate rolled his eye's as she sent a huge thousand watt smile over to Ryan.

"Yeah well from one mother to another you understand how worried we are about our daughter."

" Of course I do! She's stable now we are placing her in a room now and if you give us five minutes I can let you in to see her. In the mean time I have some insurance papers to fill out and a few other things." Cate seemed to relax a little and accepted the clip board full of papers the nurse handed her.

"Why didn't you give me those when I got here?" Nate asked. The nurse frowned at him and he could swear he saw her reach for a sharpened pencil on her desk. But common sense kicked in and she placed both hands in her pockets.

"Nate Bazile, class of 1994. You stood me up the night after I lost my virginity to you. You stupid jack ass." And without another word the nurse stormed away leaving a stunned Baze and a slightly smirking Cate in her wake.

"Wow you sure did get around back then." Cate quipped. Baze leaned against the wall and prayed no one else he had been with worked at this hospital.

"Oh stuff it Cate."

As the nurse had promised Cate, Baze and Ryan were in Lux's room within five minutes. It was hard to see Lux in that bed with so many iv's and tubes running into her small body. Cate bit back a sob and buried her face into Ryan's shirt and blindly reached for Baze's hand. He held it tight and with his other free hand stroked Lux's hair out of her face.

Lux awoke to the feeling of someone brushing her hair. Her eye's slowly opened and she gave a slight smile to her family. Things were a little fuzzy but she felt a little better, she vaguely wondered what kind of drugs they had her on. Baze breathed a sigh of relief. Cate removed herself away from Ryan and went an stood on the other side of Lux.

"You gave us all quite a scare young lady." The doctor said entering the room. He checked her chart and tisked slightly.

"Is she okay?" Ryan asked since it seemed both Baze and Cate were intent upon studying Lux looking for the slightest hint she was still in danger.

"Now she is. It's her heart again, she's going to need surgery to fix it but after that she should be as good as new. And in the future sweetie if you are experiencing pain and such let someone know. You obviously have family who love you very much and only want what's best for you." Cate and Baze nodded in total agreement. Lux shook her head slightly as well. She had been so stupid trying to pretend that she was okay. She felt tears well up and knew that the doctor was right. The doctor left the room to go check on.

"Why didn't you say you were sick before?" Cate asked, she hadn't really expected Lux to answer.

"I'm sorry I just thought if I had to come to the hospital and they had to do surgery. You guys would make me go back to foster care because I was to much of a hassle……" Cate was floored and anger swelled up inside her. Not a Lux but at herself. This was her fault. She had made Lux this way by giving her up. By leavening her baby girl alone in the sad cold lonely world. She vowed she would make it up to her somehow.

Baze was the first to break the silence.

"Kiddo nothing in this world will ever make us leave you again. Your stuck with us forever." And Lux smiled and she knew she was truly loved. Then Nate placed his free hand out in the air over Lux.

"All for one!" Cate, Ryan, and Lux all placed their hands in his pile.

"And one for all!"

The End!

An: Okay I feel better now. That little idea has been floating around in my head since Lux explained why she had never been adopted. Please review and let me know what you guys thought.