"I need to see the family of a Miss Peyton Sawyer" the doctor in the white coat asked politely the group of men and women that leaped for him the moment he stepped out of the operation theatre. He was used to the faces he saw on the two pair of couples. And like always he had to gulp before delivering the bad news. Sometimes he just hated this job.

"We are. We're her friends and her family" Nathan spoke out. He knew both Haley and Brooke were still crying and Lucas had not said a word yet since they all came rushing to the hospital four hours ago.

"Well, if you say so. Miss Sawyer's condition is very severe. She broke her right leg and her arms are in a pretty bad shape. She also has some injuries on her face." The doctor had to pause. The two girls were wailing louder now.

"But she's gonna be okay right?" Nathan asked.

"I'm afraid that's not all. Apparently, she suffered a major head injury that has caused bleeding in her brain. We have managed to stop the bleeding and stabilize her condition for now. However we still cannot predict the level of severity her brain has experience until she fully wakes up. I'm really sorry."

"Can..can we see her?" Brooke squeaked.

"She's very much unconscious now and it may take time for her to wake up. I would suggest you to wait until the patient does so before allowing visitors. The nurses will inform you the moment she opens her eyes. However, I think it might be good if you take turns and spend a limited amount of time because it may disturb the patient."

"Thank you, doctor" said Nathan. He sat back into his seat grabbing a handful of hair. Silence once again surrounded them all. Nathan hated this. Hated of what had become. Peyton was his best friend and it hurt so much to hear what she had gone through. Haley had awoken him after Brooke's call. She didn't say anything, couldn't actually. She just spilled tears. He had to practically shake her to make her speak. The moment he told her, he refused to believe. He had to ask her to tell the story again. Peyton met with an accident? That couldn't be true, but he knew, Haley would never play such a horrible joke. They both had to wake Deb to tell her to look after Jamie before heading straight to the hospital. Only on the way over did he remember to call Lucas. His brother, like him was also awoken from his sleep. But unlike him, Lucas didn't ask again, he just fell silent.

"She's gonna be okay won't she?" Brooke broke the silence. Her voice was shaking, totally not like the usual confident Brooke.

Haley held her close. "Yeah. She's gonna be okay. She's a strong woman. She can go through this." Haley prayed with all her heart was she just said was true. Peyton had to be strong.

They're conversation was suddenly interrupted again. It wasn't the nurse but a very friendly looking policeman.

"Excuse me. You must be the family of Miss Sawyer. I'm Officer Willis." He introduced himself.

"What happened to her Officer? How did the accident happen?" Nathan headed the questions. He had to know. Peyton may not be an excellent driver but she really was a careful one.

"Well it seems that Miss Sawyer ran over a red light before she swerved to avoid a coming car and hit into a lamp post. The driver of the other car was luckily unhurt. I would like though to ask some questions. Do you know if Miss Sawyer ever had any history of drug or alcohol abuse before this?" the question alone shocked all of them. The Peyton they knew never had trouble with drugs, well maybe once when they were in the teens but that was like ages ago and alcohol was certainly a no-no.

"What do you mean officer? She's never had any drug and if she was drinking, she knows better than to drive. She definitely is a good driver. She wouldn't just run over a red light. That's just not Peyton." Brooke defended her best friend. There was no way someone could get away saying that her best friend was a druggie.

"Did I mention one red light? I meant to say three. She escaped the first two but she nearly hit the other car at the last one. Our cameras caught it and it seems that a really angry blonde whom I assume was our young patient here seems to be the driver. We've checked her record and it looks like she's clean. So, if she's a good driver like you say and that she's not on some drug or alcohol, then something really bad must have ticked her because the girl we caught on tape was sure not on a good driving mood. We'll have to wait till Miss Sawyer wakes up before we carry on with our investigations but until then if you have anything else you think I should know, I would appreciate it if you guys can come down to the station. Good day then." With that Officer Willis gave them a nod and left leaving them all in wonder.

"I can't believe this. That can't be Peyton. I mean she wouldn't just run over red lights would she? And Peyton on drugs? You have got to be kidding me." Nathan refused to believe Peyton was like that. "Does anyone know what happened before that. Did anyone see her or talk to her before the accident?" he tried asking them all because he was sure he had not seen her for a long time. Thinking about that he suddenly felt guilty. Since the wedding he and Haley had got really caught up with the nanny thing and then practicing for basketball again that he forgot to look after his own best friend. Peyton must have needed him and he just wasn't there for her.

"She called me, you know. Peyton." Brooke said as she lifted her head from Haley's shoulder and wiped her tears. "She sounded so different. Hey Brooke, do you hate me? I thought she was joking. I said yes. I meant to say that I hated her for leaving me alone with Angie while she was supposed to be helping me stop Angie from screaming. It was supposed to be a joke. She didn't laugh, she just said oh, ok. Ok. Then Angie really started screaming and I had to put down the phone. If only I said something or…"

"Don't blame yourself Brooke. It wasn't your fault" Nathan intercepted. "You didn't know she was going to crash."

"But I knew she was upset. I don't know why, but she was." The way Peyton talked she could sense it, the tremble in her voice. It was always there whenever Peyton was scared to speak. But then, she thought Peyton was only going through a tough day. She had been surviving rough weeks actually since coming back to Tree Hill. She tried her best to help, but Brooke knew Peyton too well. She had her walls built up and it was really hard to get pass that. Besides, with Angie around she rarely had time to spend with Peyton. Oh, god.. Please make her okay, she has to be okay.

"Maybe it was my fault." Haley suddenly spoke shocking all of them. "We had quite a fight this morning at the office. I might have said some things that I shouldn't have."

"What about?" asked Nathan.

"Emm, it was about you, Lucas. I'm sorry." Haley turned her face to Lucas who had yet not said a word. Lucas looked up at Haley's face and he just shook his head.

"Nothing that you or Brooke or whoever says can ever be the blame to what happened." He knew. He knew that nothing that they ever said could have hurt Peyton that much. Only what he had said could have broke Peyton. I'm really sorry Peyton. I used to save you from this whole traffic light obsession, but now it's my fault, all my fault.