A sudden knock alarmed Haley, who got up from her comfortable place huddled on the couch with Nathan to get the door.

"Brooke?" she asked in confusion. The brunette girl was sobbing on the doorstep of the apartment that they had once shared together. "Sweetie, come in! Jesus, what happened to you?"

"Hales? Is that Brooke?" Nathan asked, getting up shakily.

"Sit down, babe," she told him, helping Brooke inside. "Come on, honey, come sit with me and Nate."

"Lucas...and, and...and Peyton..." Brooke tried to explain through her sobs.

Haley helped her sit down next to Nathan, before taking the other seat beside her. Nathan put a comforting arm around the brunette girl he had grown to love like a younger sister.

"What did they do, B?" he asked.

"Peyton came," Brooke said, beginning to breathe deeply between her words. "She came to Luke's, and she started saying how she and Luke were meant to be together. She...she said I was just...just a cheer slut distraction," she said, beginning to wail once again.

"Tigger, you know that isn't true," Haley said, stroking her friend's dark locks.

"And she told Lucas, the real reason I broke up with him," Brooke sobbed. "She told me at your rehearsal dinner that she was still in love with Lucas. And I had just been diagnosed that day, and I...I...I was so scared."

"Brooke," Nathan said firmly. "You need to calm down. It's not good for you."

"I'm sorry," Brooke whimpered. Nathan chuckled affectionately.

"Hales, can you make her some hot chocolate?" he asked his wife. "I've got her."

He pulled the damaged girl into his arms and let her cry against his chest for a while. "You'll be okay, Brooke. It's gonna be okay."

"I left before I got to see what happened," she cried. "What if he's with her now?"

"I bet you he isn't," Nathan said. "He doesn't love Peyton, Brooke. He loves you."

"How do you know that?"

"Because, he looks at you like you're the most important thing in the world."

"Really?"

"Really. He came to visit me yesterday, after he left you. He was so worried, Brookie. He just wants you to be okay."

"I'm scared, Nate."

"Scared of what? Giving him a second chance?"

"Giving him a second chance and then dying," Brooke sniffled. "He deserves someone who will be around for a while. Peyton can give him that."

"And so could you."

"I guess so," Brooke sighed. "I just, I don't want the uncertainty."

"Brooke, if you keep trying to look for reasons to die, you'll find a lot of them. But if you take a second to look for reasons to live, you'll find a lot more," Nathan said, giving her a chaste kiss on the top of her head. Haley entered with a mug of hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream and marshmallows.

"He's right, honey," Haley said, hanging her friend the mug. She watched a shy smile spread across the brunette's lips.

"You remembered that I like both," Brooke said, looking at Haley gratefully.

"Of course I did," Haley said, giving her friend a gentle hug.

Brooke took a contented sip and heaved a calming sigh. "Hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows is definitely on my list of reasons to live."

Haley suddenly leapt up, grabbing a notebook and a purple pen off of the desk in front of her. "Come on. We're making a list."

Brooke giggled. "Seriously?"

"Yes! Now come on, both of you, start naming the best things in life for Brooke Davis."

After an hour of giggling, heartfelt tears, and several more mugs of hot chocolate with both whipped cream and marshmallows, Haley, Nathan, and Brooke had compiled quite a list.

Reasons to Live

Hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream.

Graduating with all of my friends.

Becoming a fashion designer.

Cheering at the state championship

Shopping!

Vanilla coke

The color red

Reading Luke's stupid books while he's asleep

Karen's cooking

Haley James-Scott

Nathan Scott

Mouth McFadden

Rachel Gattina (even if the bitch did abandon me)

Peyton Sawyer (even if she is a backstabbing, two-faced bitch. At least she knows it now)

Whitey

The beach

The beach even when it isn't summertime

Traveling to all the places I haven't been yet

Taking a cross country road trip with my best friends

Getting to corrupt any future children of Tutorwife and Hotshot

Lucas Scott

Just as Brooke read off number 21 on her list, the door swung open, revealing none other than Lucas himself.

"Luke," Brooke said, surprised. She stood, fixing her rumpled t-shirt and shooting him a nervous smile.

"Brooke," he croaked. He took several long strides to her, and grabbed her in his arms. "Brooke, you cannot just run off like that, okay? I looked everywhere for you."

"I'm not a doll, Lucas," Brooke said, her fiesty spirit returning to her.

"No, but you are sick, and you can't just get up and leave whenever you'd like. You didn't even take your car."

Brooke huffed, flipping her hair behind her. "I can do whatever I want to do, Lucas Eugene Scott!"

"No, Brooke Penelope Davis, you cannot!" Lucas shouted. Brooke recoiled in surprise. "You might think you're the only one hurt by Peyton's little stunt, but you're not! You lied to me, Brooke! You lied to me when you broke up with me, and you weren't ever going to tell me! What, did I not mean enough to you for you to tell me the truth? Do I not count enough for you?" he yelled.

Brooke took a couple of steps back. "Luke, please don't yell at me."

"You can't just expect me to never talk about this, Brooke!" Lucas continued to shout. "I spent so much time loving you, so much time winning you back even through that nonexclusive bullshit, and you just throw it away because you're afraid I'm gonna run off with your best friend? I thought you were past all that shit. I thought you were over it. I thought you grew up, Brooke Davis, but I guess I was wrong!"

"Lucas," Brooke protested weakly. "Please..."

"No. You know what, maybe Peyton was right. Maybe I never should have gotten involved with the stupid cheer slut. You don't even know what love is like, do you? Because not one damn person has ever loved you!"

"LUCAS!" Nathan yelled, standing angrily on his still weak legs. "Get out of my house."

"No, not until she hears me out."

Brooke was crying now, holding onto an endtable for support. "Can't you see what you've done to her, Lucas? Leave!" Haley shouted.

"Stop! Stop! STOP!" Brooke sobbed, collapsing to her knees. Lucas's blue eyes widened in alarm at what he had done.

"Brooke," Lucas said gently. "Brooke, baby, I didn't mean that. Breathe, Cheery, just breathe."

She hiccupped in a panic, her entire body trembling. "She's having a panic attack," Haley recognized. "God damn it, Luke, get away from her."

"No," he protested. "Brooke, come here."

He held her to him, and in her panic she was too weak to push him away. "I didn't mean those things, Brooke. I was just hurt and scared. Please, babe, don't cry."

Her cries became quieter, and her breathes slower. "Luke?"

"Yeah, pretty girl?"

"Get away from me."