Hi Everyone! So this story has been one that has been stuck in my head for a very long time so i hope ya'll like it! A few things before you start reading though: this story is most likely going to become a Shane/OC story. And i know a lot of people don't l like him and Blah Blah Blah so yeah don't like it don't read! Anyway if you do decide to read it i hope you like it! :)

You say you're lookin' for someone who's never weak, but always strong but always strong…

To protect you and defend you whether you are right or wrong…

26 days til the end...

"Why hasn't it come in yet?" an anxious Brooke asked as she pushed around her overcooked breakfast eggs with her fork.

"I'm sure it's on its way and will be here any day now" Her father, Rick, assured her peeking his eyes out from behind his newspaper.

"But, in the meantime eat your breakfast." Lori told the eighteen year old. "You too Carl." She added making the youngest at the table grimace at the food on his plate, but obeyed his mother.

"So, you two just expect me to sit here and wait." Brooke spoke dramatically with hand gestures, making her father chuckle slightly. "I mean, this is my future we're talking about."

"Stop worrying," said Rick. "Them folks at Cornell would be stupid not to accept you."

This made Brooke smile, she loved that her father supported her decision to go. He understood that she had wanted to be a doctor since grade school, and an Ivy League school was the best way to do it. Her mother on the other hand didn't think it was the best idea though. Saying things like: 'you're only eighteen, you got no business going to New York all by yourself.' and 'you know that there are universities in Georgia, right?'. Brooke almost felt like her mother secretly wanted her to get into her dream school.

Almost… her mother wouldn't actually think that, right…?

Buzz... Buzz...

Brooke looked down at her phone to see a new text message from her boyfriend Matt, He was a year her senior and the love of her life. Even though they had been dating in secret, for almost a full year she had told her parents that they had only been dating for a month. She would have introduced him to her family earlier but her dad could be a little- well, protective when it came to matters like this. Brooke just figured that it was because he didn't want her to end up like her mother, who learned she was pregnant with her a few days before graduation. Though she wished to keep up the ruse, the constant sneaking around was starting to wear thin on Matt. Causing the teens to tell the truth, or rather half of the truth.

Reading the text, it told her that he was now parked outside of her house so that he could take her to school. "Matt's here!" She announced to her family before grabbing backpack and started for the front door.

"Hey, you didn't even take a bite of your breakfast!" Lori called out to her. The girl turned back and grabbed the fork next to her plate, picked a piece of egg and eat it.

"Done!" She said and then headed out the front door.

"I swear, that girl is just like you." Lori told her husband, making Rick smile at his her words. But that smile soon faltered when he remember who his daughter was going outside to meet.

"So what you think of this Matt guy." He asked his wife as she walked over to collect Brookes' plate.

"He's cute." Lori shrugged her shoulders, "And Brooke seems to have really takin' a shine to him."

"Yeah, that's what's got me worried."

"Is Brooke gonna marry that guy?" Carl asked suddenly with a smirk on his face, which almost made Rick choke on his coffee.

"No, sweetie." Lori said before looking back at her husband. "Ya know I'm actually kinda surprised you haven't talked about checkin' this kid out."

"Cause I already did, not a single minor felony or misdemeanor." Rick told her, almost disappointed. "And other than a speeding ticket he's clean."

"Well see, looks like you got nothing to be concerned about."

"He's a nineteen year old boy. Believe me, there's a lot I got to be concerned about… "

OoOoOo

Both teens sat in the old red, beat up, Chevy truck in the school parking lot. The young blonde man had moved the driver's seat back in order to make room for his girlfriend to straddle his lap. Which lead into their routine twenty minute make out session. Brooke moaned softly as Matt's lips found its way to the crook of her neck, silently thankful that she picked out the strapless blue and white striped blouse to wear today.

"I have to go." She breathed out. "I'm gonna be late for first period."

Matt quickly glanced at the clock on the dashboard, "We got seven minutes before the bell rings." He said in between placing kisses on her neck.

"Yes, but it's gonna take me five minutes to get there." She told him, her hands holding on to his green letterman jacket.

Sighing, the boy opened the truck door letting the brunette slide off his lap and out of the vehicle. Once she was out Matt grabbed her jean jacket she had left on the passenger's seat and handed it to her.

"Thanks." She said slipping her arms through the sleeves. "Will you be able to pick me up from track practice or are you working?"

"I can pick ya up." He replied fixing his seat.

Smiling Brooke leaned into him one last time and placed a kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"Love you too."

24 days til the end...

Brooke yawned as she tiredly walked down the hallway from her room to the kitchen, still in her colorful pajamas to join her family for breakfast. But once she made it to the end of the hallway she only saw her father standing next to the table sorting through the mail.

"Morning." he greeted.

"Morning. Where's mom?" she asked.

"We ran out of pancake mix. She and Carl went down to the McDonalds to pick some up." That made Brooke chuckle slightly at her mother's Sunday tradition.

"Guess what came in, though." Rick said holding up the envelope to show the girl.

"Oh my god!" Brooke said breathlessly, taking it out of her father's hand.

"Well go on then." Rick said, staring at his daughter looking down at the piece of mail hesitantly.

"I can't do it." She told him, quickly holding it back out for him to take it back.

"Yes, you can." He assured her. "Open it."

Taking a deep and shaky breath she began to tear the sealed flap and take out the folded piece of paper that would decide her fate for the next four years of her life. Rick carefully watched her face for any sign of expression. But it remained blank and a single tear ran down her cheek as the young brunette read the letter, making the fathers heart clench.

"Aw... Brooke sweetie."

"I-I got it." She breathed out.

"What?"

"I got in!" And with that she wrapped her arms around her father's neck with an ear to ear smile on her face.

"We're back!" they heard Lori yell from the front door with the fast food bags in hand. "Brooke? What's wrong?"

"I got in!" she told her mother excitedly and began to dance out of the kitchen "I'm going to Cornell!"

"What are we gonna do?" Lori asked in a hushed whisper.

"Going to New York! WOO!" the parents heard their daughter yell out, as she and Carl started to conga in the living room. "Going to New York! WOO!"

"What?" Rick said confused.

"How are we going to explain to her that she can't go?" But before Rick could reply, they heard Brooke shout from the front door.

"I'm headed to Matt house." She announced, putting the black rain boots that stood by the front door on. "I'll be right back. I have to tell him."

"Brooke, you're still in your P.J.s." Lori told her, but the girl didn't listen as she quickly went out the front door. Once outside Brooke headed straight for Carls' blue bike that was laying on the stone steps, then speed off down the street.

OoOoOo

She banged her hand rapidly and repeatedly against the bedroom window of the small white and blue one story house. The black curtains on the inside soon parted and Brooke was able to see Matt, who looked like he had been asleep, wearing only black basketball shorts with his underwear band peaking above them. The boyfriend seemed surprised but ultimately happy that she was here, taking only a second to open and push up the window.

"Hey babe. You do know its eight o'clock in the morning right?" he greeted her groggily as Brooke climbed through the hole-in-the-wall and into his bedroom. "What?"

"I got in! She exclaimed. "I'm going to Cornell!"

"Oh my god! That's great!" Matt told her and engulfed her into a hug.

"What?" Brooke asked when she watched his smile slowly fade away.

"Nothing, just-where do we go from here?"

"I don't know." She said honestly, "If you don't wanna do this anymore I-I understand."

"Is that want you want?" He asked, failing to hold back a pained expression.

"No." Brooke told him frankly. "But, I have to do this. Becoming a doctor, it's my dream, Matt."

"Then it's my dream too." He said, taking both her hands into his. "Brooke, I would follow you to the ends of the earth. And if that's what it takes to be with you, I would gladly call New York my home for the next several years."

"Really?"

Matt nodded. "If you'll let me."

"Of course."

"Oh good, cause I don't think I would ever take 'no' for an answer." Brooke laughed at his confession and wrapped her arms around Matt's bare stomach, making him wrap his arms around her too, letting his head rest on top of hers. And after about a minute of just holding each other Matt said: "Wanna fool around?"

Brooke rolled her eyes, "Fine, but only a quickie."

23 days til the end...

"What's the difference between men and women?" Rick asked his best friend as they ate their late lunch from the comfort of the parked police car.

"Is this a joke?" Shane asked, popping a French fry into his mouth.

"No I'm serious."

"I've never met a woman who knew how to turn off a light. They're born thinking the switch only goes one way 'ON'. They're struck blind the second they leave a room." Shane teased, "I mean every women I ever let have a key- I swear to God, I come home-house is all lit up. And my job apparently, because my chromosomes are different, is to walk through the house and turn off every single light this chick left on."

"Is that right?" Rick asked holding back a chuckle.

"Yeah, baby. Oh, reverend Shane's preaching to you now boy" Shane then continued on with his rant from the guy gospel.

"So how's it with Lori man?" Shane asked when he was done.

"She's good. She's good at turning off lights. Really good I'm the one who sometimes forgets."

"Not what I meant."

"We didn't have a great night." Rick sighed.

"Hey man I may have failed to amuse with my sermon but I did try. Least you could do is speak."

"That's what she always says. 'Speak, speak,' you'd think I was the most closed mouth son of a bitch ever you hear her tell it."

"Well do you express your thoughts? Do you share your feelings? That kind of stuff?"

"The thing is that this time, we weren't fighting about me. We were fighting about Brooke and her leaving this fall." Rick admitted.

"Oh…"

"Lori thinks she's too young to go to off all by herself."

"She's eighteen."

"That's what I said. Then she goes on to tell me that we can't afford to send her away to her big fancy Ivy League school."

"I thought you said she got a real good scholarship."

"She did. But that's not the worst of it. Lori then proceeded to ask me if I could be the one to tell Brooke she couldn't go."

"Ah, man."

"Yeah, she said it would sound better coming from me." Rick said messaging the temple of his head. "How the hell am I supposed to look my daughter in the eye and tell her that all the hard work she did to get in to her dream school was all a waste of time? Huh? How? She'll be heartbroken. I told Lori that I couldn't do it and she just..."

"Look man I'm sure it's just a phase. Just probably scared that Brooke's all grown up now. It'll pass." Shane told the man in the driver's seat.

"Last thing she said this morning: 'Sometimes I wonder if you even care about us at all'. She said that in front of the kids. I mean imagine going to school with that in your head." Rick recalled. "The difference between men and women: I would never say something that cruel to her. And certainly not in front of Brooke and Carl. "

"All available units, high speed pursuit in process, linden county units request local assistance..."

OoOoOo

Shane was nervous as he pulled into the parking lot near the football field of his old al ma mater, King County High. While he was driving he had spent the fifteen minutes trying to figure out how he was going to tell Brooke about what had happened. He had done the same thing when he went to go talk to Lori, but before he could even form the words to tell her, she had guessed first, the poor thing. What was he thinking when he told Lori that he could pick up Brooke from track practice early and take her to the hospital.

"Move it ladies!" Shane heard a large man in a green tracksuit yell out to a group of girls who just ran past him. "Let's go! Let's go! Our first meet is in a month! Is that the best y'all got?!"

"Coach Canton?" Shane asked the burly man.

"Yeah." The man confirmed turning around. "How can I help you officer?"

"I was wonderin' if you could tell me where Brooke Grimes might be."

"Ya know I asked that same question myself." The coach told him, "Then, I was told that she didn't show up 'cause her mom picked her up early on account a she wasn't feeling well. At least that's what Becky told me." Then point to a petite blonde who was stretching her legs by the bleachers.

"Really?" the officer questioned, not buying this story for a second.

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason." Shane told him, "Just go ahead and call the station if she shows up later. Okay, man."

OoOoOo

Brooke hummed a tune to herself in the empty hallway, as she stuffed her locker with all the textbooks she had in her backpack. She didn't want any kind of school distraction tonight. Mostly because Matt had gone on and on about all the special and romantic he had planned for their one year anniversary. Just as she finished she felt arms wrap around her waist.

"Hey babe." Brooke heard Matt say. Blushing she turned around in his arms to see her boyfriend's face smiling down at her.

"Hey yourself." Brooke hummed, giving him a peck on the lips.

"Ready to go?" Asked matt once their lips parted, rubbing his nose against hers. "Because I have an amazing anniversary planned and waiting for you."

"Oh yeah, is it as good as our six month one." Brooke asked teasingly, referring to the first time they had giving themselves to each other fully.

"Fine. Almost as good." He said right before pressing his lips against hers once again.

"Better be I'm skipping track practice, and if Canton finds out I'll be in deep shit."

"Thought you said Becky was gonna cover for you."

"Believe me I love that girl, but bless her heart she's ain't exactly the sharpest nail in the shed."

"Then I guess we best not get caught." He said slyly, slowly allowing his hand to travel underneath her purple tank top. Letting them roam her body as he captured her lips with his own, gradually walking Brooke back until he had her pressed against the hunter green lockers. The young couple were so completely immersed in their own world that they didn't notice someone walking to them.

Rolling his eyes, Shane made his way towards the teens and began to bang his fist against the lockers. "All right you two, break it up."

This made Brooke push Matt's chest away from her, and quickly looked toward the person who had interrupted them. "Shane?" She was able to sputter out while sporting a flushed face of embarrassment.

"Why aren't you at track practice?" The sheriff's deputy asked, very agitated.

"I-I-" Stuttered Brooke, just absolutely humiliated at the fact she had just got caught in a very heated make out session by her father's best friend.

"Do you know how close I was to puttin' out an APB on you?" Shane continued, making the young women gap at his confession.

"Look ease up on her." Matt told the older man, "it's not her fault, I convinced her to skip. So if you want to get mad at someone, get mad at me."

"You. Shut Up." Shane pointed to the blonde man, then to the Burnette "You. With me. Car. Now."

"I ain't going nowhere unless you tell me why you're even here." She said trying to sound assertive.

This made Shane let out a shaky breath and rub his hand on his head letting his dark hair get ruffled. "You dads hurt, Brooke."

"What?" Brooke questioned with weak voice.

"He's at the hospital, in surgery." Shane explained to her. "Your mom and Carl are already there. But we need to get going."

She didn't reply but nodded her head numbly, while grabbing her backpack off the floor then looked back at her boyfriend.

"I have to-" She started.

"Go." Matt said cutting her off and taking her hands. "I'll meet you there in a bit, okay?" Brooke nodded once again, letting the blonde kiss her forehead lovingly before she quickly followed Shane out the school doors towards his police car.

OoOoOo

When Brooke and Shane finally made it to the hospital waiting room, they saw only Lori holding a sobbing Carl across her lap. That made her heart drop to her stomach.

"Mom! Dad, is he-" Brooke started.

"He's still in surgery." A tearful Lori reassured her.

Brooke nodded numbly and took a seat across from her mother. Prompting Shane to sit as well, leaving a seat in between the teen and himself. Matt had shown up about half an hour later. He didn't say much. No one did really. The only thing that did make noise was the clock loudly ticking.

The time was 7:53 pm when a man with a white coat with scrubs underneath came through the door.

"Mrs. Grimes?" Said the doctor.

"Yes," Lori replied quickly rising out of her seat, along with the rest of the people in the room. "Is he alright?"

"Your husband is out of surgery. We were able to extract the bullet, but unfortunately that wasn't the only problem." The Doctor said which made Brookes ears perked up. "He was in rough shape when the EMTs finally got him here. Not to mention he hit his head pretty hard when he fell to the ground. Due to those injuries he is now in a persistent vegetative state."

"So, what the hell does that mean?" Shane asked hoping he'd get to the damn point and soon.

"It means he's in a coma. And were not sure when or if he'll wake up…"