Disclaimer: This story is rated M because it discusses the dark theme of human trafficking. If this topic disturbs you, then please do not read this story. I fully understand that people will not be comfortable reading about this. It will not be described in full but, it is a reoccurring event in this fanfic. I do not intend to offend anyone under any circumstances. -kaill
AN: Thank you to paigematthewsfan21, sunshine, xXalienatedXx, dreamkent, BpDs89, rainbowbright108, Leeese, dianehermans, smallvillegirl004, craxygirl54, and curlylizard97 for your reviews.
"So, are you going to tell me what's going on with you and Lucas?" Haley asked Nathan curiously as she prepared a small lunch for her and Nathan.
He hadn't really spoken to her the way he used to when he came home. Haley was curious to know what could have possible happened between Nathan and Lucas that would have made Nathan call her to pick him up from a motel. It had to be a big deal because she knew that Nathan and Lucas rarely got into any fights that would cause them to be distant from each other.
She had thought about maybe calling Lucas to see if she could get the answers out of him but Nathan protested against it, telling her that there was no reason for her to get involved. At first, she let is slide because it was apparent that Nathan was angry with Lucas about something and she wanted to respect Nathan's wishes. Now, there was a hint of fear shaking in his voice.
Looking up from the counter, Haley noticed that Nathan was still sitting in the same position on his couch and staring hard at the television. He had been that way ever since he had woken up. His new behavior started to make her worried about him. This was an entire new side to Nathan; his ability to be like a brick wall.
He didn't know what to tell her and it wasn't just because he had promised Lucas that he would keep quiet about it. Not even his love and trust fro Haley was going to break the code of his job. That was one of the worst parts. He was now training himself not to even look at her because the sight of her brown eyes and angelic face killed him.
It was already causing Haley to be concerned about him. He knew that. She could read his body language so easily and when she first touched his hand after picking him up from the hotel, his body stiffened. Haley's touches had never done that to him before. Everything about Haley that he was used to now disturbed him and he couldn't shake that feeling off. He was actually bewilder by that because he didn't even experience the full extent of it. His eyes only got to see the wickedness of a husband and wife, a basement that turned into an auction room, and the shaky hands of Brooke Davis when she tried to touch him because she thought that was what he wanted from her.
That got Nathan to wondering how many others there were they got further with her. He didn't know if it was the drugs or that Brooke was actually aware of what was going on that made her move so slowly. She didn't want any of it and he just stood there, letting her do her "job". What did that say about him? Was he okay with having her do those things to him? No. He wanted to shake that thought from his mind violently so that it never even crossed him again.
Other times when that moment played in his mind, on repeat, it wasn't Brooke's face that he saw. It was Haley's. Before he would leave for work or other important outings, Haley would always fix his tie for him and send him off with a kiss for good-luck.
The sound of the glass plate hitting the table brought Nathan back. Haley was now sitting beside him, curling her legs to her side. One of her arms rested lazily over the couch. From the corner of his eye, he could see her delicate fingers move. Then he felt them lightly touch his neck and her thumb wiped over his cheek. They left a ticklish tingly feeling on his skin. His heart sank because he just couldn't give in to her comfort like he used to.
"I wish I could know what to do to make this go away for you." Her voice spoke softly, like it always has.
He had to ignore it, staring off into space, Nathan started to think of what has become of his brother. How far have they gotten? Were they still on the road? There were times last night where Nathan's eyes would snap open because he thought he heard knocking on his door. The fear of somebody on the other side, wanting the answers that he was keeping locked away, consumed him. What if the man from the basement was able to track him down and wanted Haley in exchange for Brooke? Sure, it sounded crazy but, it was a thought that he couldn't shut out.
There were many reasons why Nathan came home. After seeing the few girls, he selfishly wanted to live a happy life without having his brain tarnished. He freaked out when reoccurring thoughts of what if Haley was the one standing on the stage in her bra and underwear scarred his mind. He might react, just like Lucas had. When his courage was restored, Nathan was going to go down to the facility and declare his resignation from work He didn't know if Mr. Davis was going to let him but he had to try. It wasn't going to be easy to get out because he was already subjected by Mr. Davis to carry out this mission with Lucas. He had information that he wanted nothing to do with except, trying his best to repress it before it took power over him. Another reason why he knew it was best for himself to be done was because of his relationship with Haley. For starters, Nathan couldn't stand being away from Haley. Other assignments could take him further from her and strain their relationship more. Plus, the situation he was in was making him be read by Haley. Lucas was right when he told him that this was going to change him. All Nathan did was tell him that it wasn't. When it was all said and done, he might be losing Haley after all.
Nathan fought his urge to look to Haley's face again. He didn't know what he would do if he actually craned his neck to just look at her face, knowing that she was still right beside him. All he truly wanted desperately was to tell her the truth.
Her arm rested back in her lap before she reached over to grab her plate. She didn't take a bite, hoping that Nathan would pick up his plate and join her. Not to her surprise, he didn't. She looked over to what on the television screen could have him in such a trance. There was no way that an infomercial for a food processor was turning him into a mindless robot.
When she didn't get an answer she let out the sigh she had been holding in and started eating her lunch.
I'm sorry.
His car was stopped in a new parking lot. Lucas had spent most of the night from the previous day driving. He had made a few stops only for snacks and bathroom breaks at some rest stops. Every time he stepped out of the car, he wondered if somebody was hiding and waiting for him. He was taking a dangerous way out and knew that it was only a matter of time before they were on his tail. He never left Brooke alone in the car. He didn't feel like he was able to protect her if she was left alone and he knew that she didn't want to be alone. It scared her the first few times that he would pull up somewhere and stop. Each time he promised her that it was going to be okay.
She was sleeping against the window, like Nathan had when they first drove down to scope out the area she was captive in.
Nathan. With the drastic turn of events, he hadn't really had the chance to think about what was going on with him right now. It pretty much was impossible for Lucas to think about anyone other than Brooke and anyone who could be out there that knew what happened to their precious little underground business. Now, he felt like his mind was allowed to be at ease for a moment and he was allowed to wonder about Nathan.
He knew for certain that Nathan wasn't going to tell Haley anything. If he did, he'd be jeopardizing a lot. His relationship, for one, and also his job. Sure, Nathan would sacrifice things to be with Haley but he knew when he had to man up and keep his mouth shut to keep the harmony.
Lucas let out a sigh from the stress of everything. What if he had just stuck to his original plans? Nathan might still be with him and he wouldn't be driving around with Brooke to skip out of town. He probably also would have kept his temper and not killed the escort.
His eyes scanned over her to see the bruises and cuts on her arms and revealed pale legs. Her worm our dress was still tight on her body and because of her position it had bunched up. The sick bastards also stripped the poor girl of her underwear so Lucas could see the bottom of her rear. As soon as he realized it he looked up to the ceiling of his car. Then his eyes looked to the backseat of his car to find an old sweatshirt that was thrown there. He turned to grab it.
Without trying to wake her, Lucas placed it over her legs. When the material grazed her skin, her body moved and she let out groan. Lucas felt himself almost holding his breath when he pulled his hands away from her.
She needed more than just an old sweatshirt. He couldn't keep them cooped up in motel rooms or his car for their entire trip back. Plus, how would it look to the public if he walked around with a young girl dressed like she was, well she pretty much was, a prostitute. It was then that Lucas remembered that he luckily grabbed his bag before leaving the night he took Brooke's life into s hands, along with his own. He probably had a t-shirt and sweatpants that Brooke could use until he could find some kind of clothing store. They'd be a bit baggy on her frame, but anything was better than the piece of fabric she was wearing now. He also made a mental note to get Brooke some underwear.
He quietly tried to open up his door. He pressed down to unlock his, hearing the clicking sound echo throughout the confide space of the car.
It hadn't been five minutes since and Brooke's eyes fluttered open until her hazel irises were looking around until they landed on her new covers. Then her eyes looked up to him. Her lips remained in a flat line as she swallowed to coat her scratchy throat.
"I didn't mean to wake you." He waited for her to say something, anything. His hand "I was just going to grab you some clothes out of my bag from the back. I might have a comb, too, if you wanted to brush your hair."
Carefully stepping out of the car, Lucas can't help but look around. There were a few other cars parked in the lot but he guessed that they belonged to the employees. He walked to the back of his car to open up the back. Unzipping the bag, he quickly shifted his balled up clothes out of the way to find what he was looking for. Once he was successful, he sipped it back up and shut the back of his car.. This time he walked around the passenger's side and knocked on Brooke's window. Even through the tinted glass, he noticed her flinch. He pointed down to the buttons to let her know to roll her window down.
Her finger pressed down on the button and the grey window revealed her face to him. His hands went through the window to pass along his clothes. "You can change in here. I'm just going to wait outside until your done. You can just knock on the window when your done. Don't worry, my back will be turned." He reassured her.
Brooke nodded as she took his clothes from him. She placed them on her lap before pressing the automatic button to create a shield for herself.
As he promised, Lucas turned around as soon as the window stopped at the top. His back leaned against his car, not on the window, to give Brooke some more space. He looked around, checking out the area. They were parked in a lot for a small furniture store. From the looks of his surroundings it wasn't a very popular one.
A jerk twitched in his body when he heard the window being rolled back down. He knew that it was probably easy fro her to slide into his clothes but he had opposite thoughts for the dress she was wearing.
He turned back to see that she was all done changing. Her red dress was on the floor of his car. As much as he wanted to throw it out or burn it, he knew that he had to save it for possible evidence of anything. The dress was dirty and he didn't even want to guess what on it.
Once Lucas slid back in the car, he turned to see Brooke. She looked "I know it's not the most fashionable look but it's all I have for you until I can find a shopping mall. There's a town about 20 miles from here so, I'll keep a lookout and we'll buy you something that you can wear. This way, you can start feeling more like yourself again and we don't have to separate ourselves from the world."
I know you probably miss the feeling of liberation.
She had left after staying by his side for the past hour. She told him she had things that she needed to take care of back at her place. He was able to get up and walk her to the door, knowing that she was going to come back to him.
After he had closed the door behind her, Nathan turned back to face his empty apartment that wasn't going to be that way forever. Before he left with Lucas, Nathan had asked Haley to move in with him. The timing wasn't the best because he didn't know how long he was even going to be gone. Now, he had all the time in the world to just stew in his newly fuzzy life. All he could hope for now was that she stilled had enough of patience to do that with him.
Haley was a strong-willed person. She wasn't going to stop trying to be there for him because she cared enough to think the best of him. That was more than he could ask for in this case. It hadn't been that long since he returned but all their time spent together was pretty much him ignoring her. That was the last thing she deserved and he didn't want to be the jackass that did that to her.
"Now, it's not going to be as easy as stepping out and blending back into society. I don't know if you have any missing person flyers administered or if you've been on the news. If they're are and people can identify you, then they'll jump to conclusion about me kidnapping you. You don't have to tell them anything. I'm just letting you know because all you need to do is keep calm. If you feel like you're in any kind of danger or you feel anxiety, then let me know and we'll come back out here."
Her head moved up and down, showing him that she heard and understood him. Wishing that she could just speak to him, Lucas let out another sigh. Didn't Brooke understand that every minute of her silence was time being wasted away?
"Are you ready? I won't get out until you're sure that you want to step out." Lucas had a strange urge to reach over to her and leave a comforting touch on her arm. He forced himself to pull back, knowing that it was too soon to tell what Brooke's actual boundaries were.
"Okay." Her lips barely moved as she placed her hand on the handle. Her knuckles were white and boney as she gripped it.
They walked from the parking lot to the entrance of the shopping mall. Every so often Lucas' attention would be on Brooke, trying to read her body language. She was doing fairly well for a person who hadn't had social contact in lord knows how long. By now, he thought that she would show some signs of discomfort from him having to follow her around all the time.
It dawned on him. He was always telling her that he was there for her protection and he constantly kept his watch on her. It was his job to. The sudden eerie feeling was now washing over him as he just compared himself to what her escort must have done.
Brooke stopped in front of one of the clothing racks. Her fingers ran over a few of the items as she walked next to it. She stopped, grabbing one of the shirts and began to feel the material.
Lucas watched as Brooke was getting reacquainted with the world. Her tongue wet her lips as she began moving the rejected choice out of her way and as she did so Lucas noticed that she easily thrown the idea of wearing red aside. He would have done the same if he was picking out clothes for her to wear.
She picked up a leopard print knit sweater-top. Her eyes studied the pattern as she held it up. She turned to show Lucas, her facial features asking him if it was an okay pick.
"Why don't you go try in on in a dressing room? I'll wait right here for you. You can pick up a pair of jeans or something on your way."
"And underwear. I don't have any but you already know that." She told him, walking away to go try on the new clothes.
"Right." He muttered.
His hearing perked up when he heard snickers and whispers coming from a few racks of clothes over. He turned to the direction it was coming from and two girls, who could easily be 16 and picked up by potential trafficking enthusiasts, were looking at him and laughing. They dropped their smiles and darted their eyes back down to
"Disrespectful much?" He gritted between his teeth as he talked to himself, finding himself wishing that Brooke would almost be finished trying on clothes and getting whatever else she needed.
He had the feeling to check on her to see if she was still even in the store with him but he didn't want to seem to possessive. That would give the other people in the store something to stare and make assumptions about.
He couldn't wait to get her home, where she could be comfortable, safe, and away from all of this.
Brooke came back with the clothes on her arm. Her head turned to face the two other girls in the same section. "What?"
"Did everything fit okay? Is that all that you want?" Lucas asked her, doing his best to ignore the ignorance of the other girls.
Looking at the pile of clothes in her hands and then back to Lucas, she nodded. "You don't have to do this, you know." Brooke told him as she started to follow him towards the register.
He couldn't help but let out a chuckle. It wasn't because he thought that what she had said was funny. It was because every moment had to be taken seriously and he didn't know if he would ever have the chance to laugh again.
"I wish that we could go back." Brooke said as she kept her eyes glued to the passenger side window. She was now out of Lucas' clothes and wearing the new ones that he was bought for her. She was starting to look more and more like her normal self. Now, all she needed was something to cover up any cuts and bruises on her face and hands and something that could erase her nightmare away.
"That's out of my hands, especially since they probably know that we have you in custody. It would be risking to much if I turned around to try and get any more of them out." He told her again. There were still no mentions of any names from her and he wished that he had asked the man when he introduced himself as Joshua Parker.
Why was she so keen on going back there and thinking that it was all going to be okay? Lucas didn't even know if his new play-by-ear was going to end up with everyone getting out alive.
Lucas turned to her when he heard a sigh came from her lips.
"It's just the turn of events, I guess. One moment I'm in this hell, going on another client meeting, and I meet a man and his brother who weren't interested in having sex with me. They wanted to save me instead." She explained to him as she continued to stare out the window. She took in the sight of the field and the tress in the distance as the vehicle passed them. It had been a long time since Brooke had last seen the simplicity of the outside world.
Hell was putting it lightly. Lucas felt his teeth push against each other forcefully.
She turned to him, threading her fingers together and resting them on her lap. Her thumbs wrestled together while she tried to find the right words to say to him. Lucas hoped that her nervousness was a sign that she might be growing to be comfortable around him. That didn't mean that she was starting to trust him, even though Lucas hoped that she one day would.
Lucas looked over his shoulder to see if there were any other cars behind him, before bringing his eyes forward again. She wanted to tell him something, he could feel it. Tension and heat filled the inside of his car.
"Is everything okay, Brooke?" He asked her, being careful with his tone. Lucas hid the fact that he was curious to hear whatever she had to say. Any information he could get about her captors and their underground activity would make his getaway more comforting yet, he'd probably have to pull over because the stories that had to be shared would cause a blinding rage to build up inside of him.
Her teeth scrapped against her dried lip, peeling back its skin. Her eyes closed as she took in a deep breath. When she opened her eyes a few seconds later, tears brimmed and glossed her eyes. Without even blinking, the tears trailed down her cheeks. She shook her head, squeezing her eyelids over her agains, like she was trying to suffocate any emotion that she was finally letting out.
"I know that I'm asking a lot from you and that it's a place you don't want to revisit. Talking about it is the only way that I can get the proof I need for a real investigation to start." He explained to her.
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Don't be. I just hope that we can get to that point because I do want to help you and all the others that are being held there. This is probably the most we've talked and I've enjoyed the quietness being gone."
She was silent before she spoke again. "Thank you for the new clothes. I didn't say it earlier so I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it."
"You're welcome. We have a couple more stops to hit. Unless, you had enough for the day."
"Where else do we need to go?"
"Well, I don't know about you but I could use a meal. Then after that I plan on finding a grocery store to buy some essentials for you."
Brooke shook her head. "You really don't have to do that for me."
"Look, I've already told you that it's no big deal and I actually want to do this for you." He paused. He couldn't believe he couldn't figure it out before. Maybe men have bought Brooke things before, as a payment for her favors. "Do you have a problem with me buying you things?"
She shook her head again. "It's nothing like that. I was just trying to be modest." Her tone turned back to it's mousey shyness.
Lucas nodded, knowing that he shouldn't continue to push against the progress that he had made with her. He noted that Brooke was slowly able to have a complete conversation with him as long as it had nothing to do with anything regarding the case. There was something else that Lucas noticed whenever he had the actual chance to talk to Brooke. She had never once mentioned her father.
In that moment, it was the first time that Lucas had thought about Mr. Davis. He had never called, even after his alleged meeting with Brooke. He turned to look at Brooke, who was curling up in the seat, ready to let sleep overcome her body. Just looking at her, he knew that he would say the call for another time. The only thing that mattered to him right now was keeping them both safe.
AN 2: Thank you for continuing to read and give feedback on this story. The next chapter will have some graphic material, but more so in Brooke's point of view (Monster), which may be my next posted story. When I planned out this story I noticed that most of it is Lucas based and I know that I wanted to capture Brooke's centric as well. If there are any unanswered questions by the end of this story, they might be answered in the next installment. In order to get that underway, there will be more updates for this one and not as many for Wake Me Up. -kaill