Chpt. 2--What's Going On
By Marvin Gaye

Much later Brooke would wonder where the hell she parked her car but at the moment she was just grateful to finally be at the hospital. Rushing to the visitors' desk, she breathlessly panted, "Peyton Sawyer. Accident." The elderly volunteer glanced at her computer screen and smiled, "She's in surgery, honey. That's floor four. There's a waiting area…" but Brooke was halfway to the elevators before the volunteer could finish her thought.

On the fourth floor Brooke headed to the nurses' station, prepared to repeat the scene from downstairs. Before she could open her mouth, however, a hand on her arm stopped her. Turning towards the disturbance, Brooke was primed to take out her fear and frustration on someone and she mercilessly turned to face her victim. The hot boy ('It doesn't take any time to recognize hotness,' Brooke thought to herself) with his hand still clasped around her bicep didn't give her a chance to yell when he wearily inquired, "Brooke Davis?"

"Yes, but--," Brooke huffed impatiently. Normally she enjoyed the celebrity her clothing line brought her, especially when it compelled hot boys to touch her, but right now all she wanted was answers. "Listen…Wait." Brooke narrowed her eyes as she considered the boy in front of her. Slightly shaved head, serious smile, eyes headed towards a squint--this boy looked a lot like Luke! "Let me guess. You're Julian, right? Where's Peyton?'

"She's…" Julian collapsed back into his seat. "She's…Fuck. They…" Shaking his head, he tried to compose himself. "She's been in surgery for three hours this time. Last night, when we got here, she was in surgery for like five hours. Then today something inside her started to bleed and they…" he trailed off and continued to shake his head as if silencing his words would make them untrue.

"Oh God." Brooke sat down next to Julian and shut her eyes. "You were with her? I mean, in the car?" Brooke's words were muffled by her hands covering her face but Julian heard the question and the unmistakable tone of accusation.

"Yeah. The light…I never saw…God. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Feeling her first stirring of pity, Brooke allowed herself to look at him, really look at him, for the first time. His eyes were bloodshot and his hands were shaking. He obviously hadn't slept, was dressed in a torn tuxedo shirt, and had a bruise darkening across the left side of his face. Brooke shelved her need to blame someone; certainly blaming Julian didn't help anyone right now. "Listen, Julian." She looked him straight in the eye. "I don't know you very well. I don't know you but you can't blame yourself. You told me someone ran that red light. You couldn't know some mother fu…some person" Brooke stressed, "was going to decide to slam into you. You got her to the hospital. You got her here and you clearly haven't left since. You called me. You need to remember that you did all that but mostly you need to remember that you can't blame yourself." Brooke didn't notice how Julian's hands continued to shake but she did see the single, silent tear that slipped down his cheek out of red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes. Giving him a moment to compose himself, Brooke stood up and stepped towards the nurse's station. "I'm going to talk to the nurses. Maybe I can get some information. I'm going to try. And I've got to call Haley. Have you called her father?" Brooke turned back to Julian, who had quickly dried his face.

"No, I…The way she talks about you, all the time, I figured you would know what to do. Who to tell."

"Ok. I'll take care of it. Give me a minute to speak with the nurse." Brooke closed the distance to the nurses' station with long, purposeful strides and smiled at the pretty girl behind the desk. It fleetingly crossed Brooke's mind that there was something familiar about this girl but Brooke couldn't hold on to that thought. "Hi. Peyton Sawyer. She's in some kind of surgery. Can you tell me if there's any news?"

"And you are?"

"I'm her best friend. Brooke Davis. I know you can't tell me much but--"

"Brooke Davis? B. Davis? Clothes Over Bros?"

"Yeah," Brooke sighed.

"Oh. Oh wow. Of course you are. That makes sen…" But the girl didn't finish her thought. "Listen, you're right, I can't tell you much. There're rules. But maybe if you could get next of kin. If they could just give us permission. I believe her father is Larry Sawyer? He's listed on her health insurance as next of kin and emergency contact. If he gives us permission to speak to you, I'll let her doctor know."

"Oh! I can do that. I'll try to get her dad on the phone. Thanks. Thanks a lot." Brooke reached for her cell phone and turned to walk down the hall. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a flurry of motion and turned to see two uniformed police officers approaching a now-standing Julian. Brooke started towards them, wanting to hear more about the idiot who hit Peyton, but she forced herself to stop. Finding out about Peyton was more important. She needed to get Larry Sawyer on the phone; Julian could handle the cops for now. Continuing down the hall, she spoke into her cell: "Larry Sawyer, please. Tell him it's an emergency."

While Brooke was trying to track down Peyton's father, Julian addressed the two LAPD officers who approached. "Do we have to do this now? She's bleeding for God's sake."

The officers sidelong glances indicated they both recognized his instant hostility but neither mentioned it. "Mr. Baker," the younger officer spoke first, "we understand you are upset but its better for everyone if we do this quickly. You were driving the car?"

"Yeah." Julian clasped his hands to cover the shaking.

"Can you tell us what happened? Exactly?"

"I already…"

"Humor us. Tell us again." This was the older officer, speaking for the first time.

"We were driving home from a party in Malibu. Peyton was asleep in the seat next to me. I was just driving. Just driving. Then that SUV just…" he clapped his hands "right into us. Right into Peyton."

"So the SUV hit you?"

"Yeah. Out of the blue. Out of nowhere. I didn't see anything coming."

"Ok, Mr. Baker. Was your light green?" Julian looked blankly at the officers. "At the intersection. Was your light green?"

"Yeah." Julian blinked rapidly as though he had been caught drifting out of the conversation. "Yeah, of course it was. Of course."

"Ok. That's all for now but I'm sure we'll have more questions. You're going to want to stick around LA for a while Mr. Baker."

"Yeah, of course. Where would I go?" The officers just glanced at each other--Julian looked nervous.

"Ok then." They turned to leave. "Oh, one more thing." The younger officer turned back. "Did you make any stops? Along the way, before the accident? Did you stop for gas, to use the restroom, anything?"

"I… Yeah, I guess. I got gas. Shell station, about 20 minutes before the accident. On Fairfax, maybe.

"Ok. Thanks. We haven't spoken to the other driver yet; she's not much better than Mrs. Sawyer. We'll get back to you when we do. You may want to get some sleep Mr. Baker. You look pretty bad."

"Yeah, ok."

Brooke walked back into the waiting room as the police were walking away. Rushing to Julian, she interrogated him: "What happened? What did they say? Do you they have the jackass? Are they taking him to jail?"

"The other driver is a she," Julian emphasized, "and she's already in the hospital. She's hurt pretty bad, I think."

"Oh." Brooke hadn't considered that possibility. "Ok. Well. I guess none of that should matter anyway." Turning to look at Julian, Brooke continued, "Look, you're beat. Go home. Take a shower. Get some sleep." Julian started to refuse but Brooke plowed on, "Seriously. I'm here now. They've got people trying to get in touch with Peyton's dad. He'll let the doctors talk to me, I know he will. I'll call you as soon as anything changes."

"You're sure?" Julian appeared reluctant to leave but he and Brooke both knew he needed to take some time. "You'll call--"

"Immediately." Brooke nodded. "Now go." Sitting down and preparing to call Haley with an update, Brooke glanced back at Julian's retreating back. "Hey! Julian!" she called, "You got her here. She's lucky she was with you. Thanks. For everything." But Julian just shook his head and walked away.