Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill nor claim to, please don't sue!

Storyline: What if Lucas' life was very different, what if Karen was the bad one, not Dan, can anyone pull Lucas from his nightmare existence?

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, I'm glad you liked the last chapter. Sorry its taken so long to update, I've just been preoccupied at the moment, and trying to get the motivation to write. Plus I broke my wrist and haven't been able to type properly until now! Here's the next chapter, it was a difficult one to write. Enjoy!

Chapter Six

Its strange to be in this situation, to be in a house that should have been your home and to be living with the people that should have been your family, but you're in a foreign place, with people you hardly know.

He never belonged with his mother, he's in his rightful place now, with his baby brother. The brother that he hardly knows, but who he trusts so completely. It shouldn't be that easy to trust someone after everything he's been through, but funnily enough he's not worried, he somehow instinctively knows that he's safe with Nathan, that his brother loves him unconditionally.

His father however, that's a different story, he see's something in Dan's eyes that he can't work out, something that alludes him and its enough to have his senses screaming. He's hiding something, and that's never good, people who hide things are people you can't trust. So he keeps his distance.

His stepmother, Deb, he's wary of her but she doesn't seem malicious, although the emotions he sees in her confuse him. He sees the look of guilt in her eyes each time she looks at him and he wonders why. Sometimes he sees a flash of anger, but somehow he knows its not directed toward him and he's not afraid.

He wonders what people know about his situation, and he's sure that a twisted version of the tale has already made its rounds and is, as he thinks about it, being twisted again. He knows that people will stare at him, pity him, but as long as he has Nathan with him, it will all be okay.

xxx

Its been two days and its now officially more than she's equipped to take. Endless questions from one Brooke Davis is nothing to be laughed off and Peyton is currently curbing the urge to kill. She can't stand the constant chatter, she needs her alone time, her brooding artistic time, and definitely her sleeping time, but Brooke won't let it drop. From the moment Nathan and his brother had left the hospital parking lot, Brooke had been like a rabid dog with a meaty bone.

As Brooke's cell phone rang, Peyton breathed a sigh of relief, at last a reprieve from the constant questioning. As Brooke muttered into her phone, Peyton's mind began to wander. All she could think of was the blonde boy sitting in the wheelchair, he was battered and broken and she saw fear. She had remembered Nathan telling her about his brother, the blonde loner, the quiet brooding boy she'd seen around the school and she also remembered that Lucas' mother Karen hadn't wanted her son near his brother or his father. She felt mixed emotions as she tried to figure out the situation in her head. If Lucas was with Nathan and his father, then it was obvious that his mother wasn't in the picture any more. On one hand Peyton was happy, happy that finally Nathan could get to know his brother. On the other hand she saw the situation for what it truly was, obviously something bad had happened and she had a feeling she knew what, a feeling that made her want to be physically sick.

Her face paled and she was broken from he thoughts by a breathless Brooke. "Oh my God. So I know what happened with Nathan and his brother. Apparently his mother and stepfather have been abusing him and Nathan found out. The police got involved and went to Lucas' house where they could hear him screaming. They had to break down the door, but they got away and just left Lucas there to die." She babbled quickly.

Peyton's worst fears confirmed, she replied to Brooke. "I figured it was something like that, otherwise why would Nathan and Dan be with Lucas? You remember what Nathan told us about his brother."

"I know, but the whole thing is so teen drama, things like this happen on television, not to cute blonde boys that go to our school."

Peyton rolled her eyes. "Well we're not in a teen drama Brooke, if we were we'd be played by people in their twenties trying to pass themselves off as teens. This is real life and things like this happen all the time. Think about what Lucas must have been through. He must have been so alone. His only family either abusing him or, as he probably assumed, abandoning him. He's been tortured."

Both girls fell silent and Peyton felt so angry and at the same time overwhelmingly sad. She thought about her own situation, the death of her mother had affected her badly and she missed her everyday, but she had no excuse to feel sorry for herself. She'd had her mother at least for a short while and she still had her father to look out for her. Lucas had, had no one, he'd been abused and secluded.

"I say we go over there, Nathan did promise to explain everything to us, and I think now is as good a time as any, let me just call Hales."

"Brooke, what would make you think that this would be a good time? Its almost midnight, we're not going over there tonight, if we really have to we'll go tomorrow, and by tomorrow I mean after AM, either that or we can wait till Monday and ask Nathan at school. He's gotta come back soon, he's already missed two weeks."

"Fine, we'll go tomorrow, there's no way we're waiting till Monday, I wanna know everything now."

Sure you do. Peyton thought. You always do.

xxx

As the doorbell rang, Lucas shot up in bed, his abused body groaning in protest at the movement. He looked across the room at his slumbering brother and gave a small smile. Noisy chatter floated from downstairs, one voice belonging to Deb, the other three voices were also female but unrecognizable to Lucas.

Nate cracked open one eye and looked toward his brother, giving him a sleepy grin when he saw him sitting up and looking at him. "You sleep okay?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, really good actually, I didn't think that I would." Lucas replied. " I think you have guests by the way, the doorbell rang and I heard your mom talking to some girls."

Nate groaned, he knew who it would be, and he was actually surprised they had waited this long to come over, especially with Brooke in the mix. He closed his eyes again, hoping that maybe he could go back to sleep and be left alone, but he had no such luck when he heard the three girls clattering up the stairs talking noisily. He looked over to Luke who had a strange expression on his face, a look somewhere between curiosity and utter terror graced his features and Nate's heart instantly went out to him.

"Luke? You okay?" Nathan asked his obviously terrified brother.

"Me? Yeah, sure." He muttered quickly and not very convincingly.

"I can tell them to leave if you want me to."

"No, its fine, I'll be fine, it's just weird having so many people around me. I'll be okay though, I've gotta get used to it at some point. He said as he gave Nate a small reassuring smile, taking a deep calming breath as evidence.

"Nathan Scott! You've got some explaining to do!" was all that was heard as the blur of Brooke Davis burst through the bedroom door, closely followed by an amused looking Haley and a worried Peyton. Neither girl noticed Lucas in the bed across the room and Luke watched quietly, torn between amusement and a small amount of fear as the three newcomers invaded the room.

Brooke began bouncing on Nathan's bed when he yawned loudly and ignored her, instead talking to Haley and Peyton who were watching him carefully and looking on in amusement at Brooke's antics. On a particularly hard bounce Brooke found herself tipping off the side of the bed and landing on the floor with a small grunt of pain. Lucas couldn't help the small chuckle that left his lips and all occupants of the room turned to look at him. The three girls looking shocked as they spotted the object of their interest sitting in the middle of a bed that wasn't usually there.

"Hey." Luke offered timidly and gave the trio a nervous smile. His smile faded as they continued to stare at him and the silence lingered, becoming uncomfortable.

Peyton, noticing the tension radiating from Lucas, approached him and held out her hand, not expecting the violent flinch that he gave as her hand reached potential striking distance. He looked up at her, giving her an apologetic look at his instinctive reaction and grasped her hand as she introduced herself. "Hey, I'm Peyton, you must be Lucas. Its really nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." he said softly the smile returning to his face.

xxx

Brooke practically bounced upon the spot, patience had never been one of her virtues and waiting for someone to open the door was potentially the hardest thing she'd had to do in a long time. As the door opened the blonde head of Deb Scott appeared, as she spied the three girls waiting she smiled and opened the door wider to let them in. Brooke bounded into the house closely followed by Haley and Peyton, and began talking at a mile a minute, asking Deb endless questions but not pausing for an answer. Finally Peyton clamped a hand over her mouth and politely asked if they could go up to Nathan's room. Looking worried, but having no real reason to deny them Deb granted their request and watched nervously as Brooke made for the stairs.

Practically running Brooke reached Nathan's room in record time and bellowed at the top of her lungs as she burst through the bedroom door, encountering a scared looking Nathan Scott. "Nathan Scott! You've got some explaining to do!"

As Nathan ignored her and acknowledged Haley and Peyton, she began to get frustrated. No one ignores me and gets away with it. Throwing herself on Nathan's bed she began bouncing, obviously irritating him, one false bounce though and she ended up on her butt, falling hard onto the carpeted floor. Hearing a small chuckle from behind her she turned abruptly, her eyes falling upon Lucas, his slight frame planted in the middle of the bed. Oh my God, how did we not notice him there?

Hearing his voice give out a quiet greeting she studied him, noticing the small amount of bruising and the few cuts that hadn't yet healed. Uncomfortable silence followed and she saw Peyton approach him, holding out her hand in greeting. Brooke jumped herself as Lucas violently flinched at Peyton's outstretched hand, it suddenly and shockingly dawning on her how selfish and insensitive she really had been. She hadn't stopped to really think about Lucas in all of this, sure Peyton had pointed out what he had been through, but seeing the evidence right there made her feel ashamed. Life sucks.

xxx

Okay, so I'm working on the next chapter right now and for those of you reading my other fic Hollywood Hottie, I hope to have a new chapter up within the next few days. Please read and review. I love to know what you think.