"Rachel it's your mother." It is three a.m. when Rachel's phone rings, she groans into the phone both to tell her mother she is annoyed at the early morning call and that she is slightly listening. "I need you to pick up your sister; she's gotten herself into trouble again." Rachel's ears perked up at the mention of her sister. Pictures of her flickered through Rachel's mind. It had been a year since they had seen each other.
"What kind of trouble?" Rachel asks sighing.
"No clue." Comes her mother's careless voice. "She called from Andrew NC, said come."
"You didn't ask why?" Rachel's voice held her annoyance.
"Oh no, she left a message. I was in a massage." Rachel rolls her eyes at how carelessly her mother dismissed her sister's pleas for help. "I got to get back Love you." And that was it; Rachel held the phone a second longer after hearing the click. Finally Rachel sighs and rolls over. Slowly she sets up and dials her sister's number. "Heather Gatina's phone." Comes a sweet voice, but to Rachel's surprise it's not her sisters.
"Um, this is her sister; can I ask who this is?" Who the hell is answering my baby sister's phone?! Rachel thinks.
"Oh good family." There's a certain excitement in her voice and Rachel lets out an annoyed groan. "This is Susan Drewer, I'm a nurse at Mercy General hospital in Andrew's North Carolina. Your sister is here."
Rachel is shocked and it takes her a second to process, "What?" She finally asks almost screaming. This causes her roommate to stir.
"Your sister was attacked yesterday." Says the nurse.
"Attacked?" Rachel lowers her voice so as not to completely wake her roommate.
"Yes, I'm afraid that's all I can say. Will you be coming down?" The nurse asks.
"Yes, of course it's about a two hour drive." Rachel hangs up and jumps got of bed. She's no longer concerned with keeping quiet, but still she forces herself to make little noise.
"What's going on roomy?" Asks the figure in the other bed.
Rachel sighs deeply; she hadn't intended to wake Brooke. "Family troubles," she mummers before heading into the closet.
"Is there anything I can do?" Brooke sets up, her brunette curly hair a mess. Slowly she follows Rachel into the closet prepared to ask again.
Rachel looks threw her shirts. "Want to take a road trip Brooke?" Rachel figures she could use some help anyways.
Brooke looks slightly worried for a moment, before plastering a smile on her face and saying, "Why not?"
"Okay here's the deal" Rachel pulls her PJ top over her head with her back to Brooke. "I have a sister."
"A sister?" Rachel can hear the intrigue in Brooke's voice.
"Yeah, and she's in trouble. I'm not sure what's going on but she's in the hospital and I gotta go check on her" Rachel pulls her clean shirt over her head then turns to Brooke, "She's a little younger then me." Rachel pulls her pair of jeans on while Brooke speaks.
"I'm sorry she's in trouble." Brooke looks slightly confused. She beings to get herself dressed as well. "Is she okay?"
Rachel looks at her for a moment, prepared to plaster a face smile on her face and say "Of course she is, I just need to bail her out." But she can't master the smile and simply says, "I don't know." Rachel pushes past Brooke and starts looking around the room. What would she need? Rachel asks herself. Clothes for sure. Rachel grabs her spare gym back and goes back into the closet to gather her sister some cloths. She then goes back into her bedroom to gather a few more needed things. Brooke follows her.
"You never told me you had a sister." Brooke's eyes follow Rachel around the room, "You hardly talk about your family."
"She's 17." Rachel stops and looks at Brooke. "Her name is Heather and she's a goody. Well compared to me she is. My parents separated us, I'm not sure why, but they did. I haven't talked to her in a year." Rachel turns her attention back to making sure she is ready to go.
"So you aren't on speaking terms?" Brooke asks tensely, not wanting to press her friend to much.
"Look nobody in my family really talks, however she is still my sister. It's not like we don't talk, we just don't know what to say to each other I guess." Brooke understands this. It's much like her own family, and she suddenly realizes how hard this trip must be for Rachel. "I'm a bad influence Brooke; I didn't want to corrupt my baby sister."
Brooke is shocked; she knows that Rachel is a bit of a partier but still. "You won't corrupt her Rachel." Brooke says quietly. "You're a good person."
"I took her out of her first night of drinking and got her drunk," Rachel pauses remembering the evening she's speaking of, sighs deeply and finishes "she ended up striping on a table."
Brooke raises and eyebrow, and says "Oh" She watches Rachel head to the door.
"Ready?" Rachel turns at the door. Brooke nods and follows Rachel.
Rachel drives 75 and 80 miles per hour all the way to the hospital. Hardly a word is spoken between the two girls. Finally they pull up in front of the hospital. Rachel jumps out of the Suburban, slams her door, and walks quickly to the hospital entrance. Brooke almost runs to keep up. She has never seen her friend this way. "Heather Gatina's room?" Rachel demands sweetly from the receptionist, who types for a second before giving them the room number. Rachel turns on her heals gets into the elevator and pushes the 8 harder then necessary. "I want to know why my sister was attacked." She turns suddenly to Brooke, "I need to go alone."
"Of course," Brooke puts her hand on Rachel's shoulder and gives her a slight squeeze. Rachel leads the way out of the elevator when the doors open. Brooke finds her way to the waiting room and takes a seat. Rachel makes her way down the hall looking at the room numbers finally she sees 816. She looks through the door at her sister. She looks broken. She thinks. Heather is curled up on her side facing away from the door where Rachel seems frozen. She sighs deeply then walks into the room. "Heather" she says barely above a whisper. Heather doesn't move, so Rachel walks forward to stand by her sister's bed. She looks down at the fragile and broken young girl laying upon the bed. "Sis?" Rachel says worry creeping in to her voice, and missing with emotions Rachel has yet to acknowledge. Slowly Heather closes her eyes and a tear escapes her. "What happened?" Rachel lays a hand upon her sister's arm gently but pulls it back when Heather flinches. Rachel walks around the bed, pulls out the chair and takes a seat. "It's okay I'm here, and I'm not leaving." Rachel takes Heather's hand, and is glad to see Heather doesn't pull it back. She still hasn't opened her eyes though. "You can talk when you're ready."
"I'm being released." Comes Heather's stained voice. It sounds as frail as its owner looks.
"Then you'll come home with me." Rachel squeezes Heather's hand slightly.
"Promise not to make me talk?" Heather's voice is barely audible.
"Promise." Rachel leans in and strokes her sister's hair. She feels tears in her own eyes as she looks at her sister.
"Rach?" Comes a voice from the door, and quickly she wipes her tears. She looks up to see Brooke standing in the door. "I'm sorry they said I had to leave the waiting room."
"It's okay" Rachel sets back and tries to give Brooke and encouraging smile. "Sis, this is Brooke Davis. She's my roommate by in Tree Hill." Rachel watches her sister for signs of understand, then beckons Brooke forward "Brooke, this is my sister."
Brooke walks around the bed to face Heather. She notices right away that Heather's eyes are bright green just like Rachel's although her hair is brown instead of Rachel's fire red. "Hi" She says quietly. She notices how broken this young girl looks and she simply can't believe its Rachel's sister.
"Hi." Heather looks at Brooke. She's too sore to move, or else she would set up and try to act strong. Heather closes her eyes then, so that she doesn't have to see the worry in both girls face.
Brooke isn't sure what to do, so she puts her hand on Rachel's shoulder. Rachel reaches her free hand up and hold on to Brooke's glad it's there. It's a long couple minutes before the nurse come in disturbing the quiet of the room.
"Okay Mrs. Gatina, I'm going to take your blood pressure. I know this hurts" Heather flints when the nurse takes her arm, Rachel sets up a little. "But it's got to be done." Rachel watches the nurse with intent eyes. "Are you her sister?"
"Yes." Rachel's voice is strained and irritated.
"I called your mother, but she didn't answer." The nurse finishes with the blood pressure, and lays Heather's arm down gently. "Has she told you what happened?"
"No." Rachel answers simply.
"She was at a party when somebody attacked her. She's taken a pretty good beating." The nurse says.
That's obvious. Rachel thinks looking at her sister. "Do you know who?"
The nurse shakes her head, "She won't tell us."
Rachel's eyes fall on Heather and she sighs deeply. "Do you know who done this to you?" She leans down and forces her sister to look at her.
"No" Heather says. Rachel takes it as the truth; her sister's eyes said it was.
"When can we take her home" Comes Brooke's voice beside Rachel and all eyes fall on the brunette.
"Should be tomorrow" the nurse looks at the clock, 'or today I should say. The doctor should be in any time now."
Heather lets out a deep sigh that causes Rachel to squeeze her hand. "I'm ready to go home" She says.
Brooke Davis is sure of many things, however what is happening at this moment and for the past few hours is not one of those things. She watches Rachel carefully tuck the blankets around her sister, stands, walks from the room, leans against the wall and is know sobbing silently. Rachel and Heather had talked on the way home. Brooke gathered that the two had ounce been close, although time and distance now separated them. Heather explained carefully how she came to be at the hospital. She gave little detail about the attack, which Brooke suspected was terrifying. Heather reminded Brooke of Rachel. Little snippets of personality over lapped. Rachel had held strong, even Brooke couldn't tell how much pain she was in watching Heather suffer, and yet is appeared as though the dame had broken. Slowly Brooke made her way to Rachel's side and set down next to her, taking her hand in her own. Rachel laid her head over on Brooke's shoulder still sobbing.
After a few minutes Rachel pulls back and wipes her eyes, "I was six, the first time I realized I was the only one she could count on." Brooke stayed quiet. "We were at the park with our mother and the nanny of the week, when this guy grabbed her arm; he tried to pull her away. She screamed and I ran over, I kicked the guy in the nuts. We both got spanked for yelling in public." Brooke looks shocked. Even my own mother isn't that bad! She thinks. She's about to say something when Rachel continues,"She would have nightmares and climb into my bed. I use to pretend that I hated it, but when she finally stopped I didn't sleep for three nights. I still have trouble sleeping sometimes. She was there threw the surgery and after." Rachel pauses thinking about how her sister has been there for her. She remembers how often her sister had forced her to eat after the surgery and how she had been the one to make sure she had her meds. Rachel lets out a deep sigh at the memories. "It wasn't easy after surgery."
Brooke squeezes Rachel's hand. "I'm sure Heather is going to be okay. I could leave if you needed a little time with her. I mean if you wanted me to." I don't know exactly where I'll go though. Brooke adds silently.
Rachel seems to pick up on this and shakes her head. "No, you can't leave. You don't have anywhere to go, and even if you did it's not fair to you. I just have to make sure that she's okay, ya know?" Rachel looks at Brooke's eyes as if searching.
"Yeah I know." Brooke lets out a sigh, partly of relief and partly of hurt. She's not sure how to fix this for Rachel. And as much as she had hated her before, Rachel had become a good friend. There's a knock at the door, and Brooke is silently glad, answering the door is something she can actually do. "I'll get it" She says before leaving her redheaded friend in the hallway.
Heather's eyes open to find herself in a strange room. Slowly she remembers what's happened the last two days. Carefully she turns over and lifts herself up slightly in the bed. Her eyes look over the room until falling on a sleeping figure in the bed next to hers. Rachel Heather thinks. She sighs deeply and throws her feet over the bed. As silently as she can she climbs out of bed. Heather moves to where her sister is still sleeping and looks down at her. She still looks like Rachel. She thinks with a slight smile. I wonder how much trouble you've gotten yourself into big sis? Broken any hearts lately? Heather can't help but move a piece of hair out of Rachel's face. Giving her sister one last glance, she leaves the room. She makes her way to the kitchen, she's not nearly as sore today. A bubbly brunette greats her without looking at her.
"Morning Rach" She says and Heather can't help but laugh. There's a shocked look at on the brunettes face when she turns around to find Heather in the door. "I'm sorry!" she says.
"No worries." Heather searches her mind for a name. "Rachel is still sleeping, she looks exhausted."
Brooke nods, "She wouldn't go to sleep. She stayed by her side." She looks over Heather. "How are you?"
Heather shrugs, reminding Brooke of Rachel. "I'm okay, just a bit sore." Heather sighs, "I'm afraid I don't remember your name."
"Brooke Davis." Brooke finishes putting the coffee on then turns to Heather and extends her hand. "I'm your sister's roommate."
"Oh" Heather takes Brooke's hand with a small smile. "Are you keeping her out of trouble?"
"Keep her out of trouble?" Brooke gives a small laugh. "There's no doing that!:
Heather laughs and shakes her head, "Well looks like you know my sister pretty well. I hope I'm not imposing."
"I'm afraid it's me that's imposing. This is your parent's house." Brooke sets down and motions for Heather to do the same.
"No, if my sister wants you here then you are not imposing. She must trust you a lot." Heather looks the girl over. Bright grown eyes, long curly brunette hair, and a bright dimpled smile.
"Well, let's just say we have some kind of agreement." Brooke looks over Heather. She looks stronger then she had two nights ago. Her eyes are brighter green, and her skin is not as pale. The smile that teases Heather's face seems a lot like Rachel.
"Hey Sis, hey hoe" Rachel comes in running a hand threw her matted hair.
"Morning grumpy" Heather says.
"Morning Rach." Brooke says.
Rachel goes to the coffee pot and starts to pour a cup. "Make yourself useful and pour us one too grouch." Comes her sister's voice. Rachel smiles, but groans before getting out two more cups.
"You're a lot of trouble you know that?" Rachel sets a cup in front of each girl.
"I'm suppose to be trouble, I'm the youngest remember?" Heather flashes Rachel an award winning smile, and Rachel finds a smile grazing her own face.
"You look like you are feeling better." Rachel sets down and looks her sister over.
"Yeah, I should be heading back soon." Heather says without meeting her sister's eyes.
"NO!" Rachel says louder then intended, she calms her self and says, "Heather it would be okay to have you around a little while. I mean, it's been a year."
There's a plea in Rachel's voice and Heather sighs deeply. She had known this was coming, "Rach, you have a life here. And you don't need a little sister to take care of anymore, hell I don't even need taking care of."
"All the more fun." Brooke says and all eyes go to her. "I mean, you should stay." Heather raises an eyebrow at Brooke, who stifles a giggle. "It might be nice to know the good Gatina sister." Rachel slaps Brooke playfully.
"That was cold B!" But Rachel is now laughing.
"I got school though." Heather cuts in.
"Transfer, you know how to do that right?" Rachel asks with sarcasm in the last part.
"You would put up with me till the end of the year, but it has hardly begun." Heather watches something flicker threw her sister's face, and she's not sure what it is. Finally she sighs, "Fine, if you need me to keep you outta trouble I'll stay."
Rachel squeezes Heather's hand, "Great, shopping trip!"
Heather lets out a laugh, "Well considering I don't have any clothes here, then yeah shopping sounds pretty good. And it is Saturday." A smile spreads across Heather's face. "Got any plans today Brooke Davis?"
Brooke looks slightly taken aback, "Um, no…."
"Awesome, I'll shower, then we'll throw her in" She motions to Rachel, "then we'll head out!"
What are you hiding Sis? Rachel thinks looking at her sister. Why are you so keen on bringing Brooke along? Rachel's eyes search her sister, until finally her sister get up to leave the room. I wonder…..