Hey guys, thought I'd give you a Christmas/Boxing Day present in the form of an update, enjoy! This one's a bit of a marathon chapter. About 1000 more than I usually do!

Shout out to Sophi20, thanks for your great support, you rock.

On with the story.

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"You'll be fine, Miss James, just rest your wrist for a few days, keep the bandage on for support until it feels strong enough, and if you're in any pain, just take some of the painkillers I've subscribed. You don't need to come in again."

"Alright, thank you doctor" said Haley as she picked up her bags, moving to the door.

"You were right to bring her in Miss Davis, make sure she looks after herself" he said, smiling at Brooke, who moved over to Haley and smiled back.

"Sure thing doc, absolutely nothing strenuous" she said. Haley walked towards the door to leave and whispered in her ear, "well don't rule out everything…"

Brooke's eyes glazed over and widened and she stopped dead in her tracks but Haley grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door. "Come on Brooke, lets go home!" she giggled.

--

They got back to the apartment and Haley threw herself onto the sofa and switched on the television. Brooke sat down next to her and put her feet up on the coffee table. Haley shifted over and lay her head in Brooke's lap, looking up at her and smiling.

"Thanks for being so great today. Looking after me. You're sweet."

"Anytime Hales, no big deal."

"No, but it is. No-one else would have taken care of me like that, it means a lot. With my parents and my brothers and sisters gone, I always have to look after myself. It's kinda nice to let someone else look out for me, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Brooke leaned down a kissed Haley on the forehead. Haley raised her hand to Brooke's cheek and held it there, looking into her eyes, and feeling an overwhelming wave of comfort and love and safety. Just from looking at her. She shook her head slightly and smiled, pulling her hand away and turning her head away to the TV and sighing. "I'm gonna get changed into some pyjamas, you wanna watch a movie?" Haley asked. Brooke nodded happily. "K, you get the movie and I'll get changed and make some popcorn. Brooke got up and grabbed a horror movie thinking it'd be a good way to make Haley snuggle up to her, and turned around when she heard a noise to see Haley in the shortest short shorts ever, and a tiny strap top. "Are you kidding?" she muttered at no one in particular, sighing at the fact that she'd be sitting next to that all night not being able to do anything. Haley walked over to the coffee table with the popcorn and leant over to put it down in such a way that Brooke thought she'd have to be carted off to hospital if she had stayed there a second longer. Not only did she have Haley's perfect ass right in front of her, but she could also see down her top. Oh sweet lord.

--

The next morning Brooke woke up to the sound of the shower running. She got up and started to change and, hearing the shower turn off, she decided to stay in her underwear until Haley came out, at which point she would resume dressing.

Haley, who was unaware of the plotting brunette outside, was singing to herself, and Brooke, who was standing right outside by the dresser, overheard. Crap, didn't know Tutor Girl could sing! Really, really well… wow. Suddenly the door opened, and Brooke pretended to just being looking for clothes, making a mental note to mention the singing to Haley at a later, less lust filled date. Haley stepped out and immediately stopped. Her jaw fell open slightly and her eyes glazed over. Brooke glanced over and giggled. "You okay there tutor girl?" Haley didn't answer. "Tutor Girl? ….Hales? ….Haley!"

"What? Yeah…. Brooke." Haley shook her head and cleared her throat. Then it dawned on her what just happened, and she went bright red. Brooke started laughing and walked over to her, still in her underwear to give her a hug.

"You're so adorable" she laughed.

"No, no Brooke, hold on, put on some- oh Christ" muttered Haley as she was pulled into the taller girls embrace. Haley stood there, hugging Brooke, more turned on than she had ever been in her life.

--

"I… I'm sorry, Hales, I just don't feel that way about you. I- I don't think we should see each other for a while. It'll just be weird. I'll see you at school." Brooke walked away. Haley felt broken. Like when Brooke had walked away, she had just yanked her heart out and trailed it behind her as she left. She watched her get in the car and-

Haley woke up sweating. Brooke's arm was draped around her waist. Haley quickly removed Brooke's hand and got up for a glass of water. She stood at the kitchen counter and decided there that her feelings for Brooke had to go. If she just had to ignore them for the rest of her life, that was fine. The fact that they were getting so strong, and had developed so quickly was what scared her the most.

"Hales?" Brooke called from the sofa. Her head suddenly popped up from the back of the sofa, and Haley felt a tug at her heartstrings, but she ignored it. She had to. She couldn't get hurt. Brooke rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked over to Haley sleepily. "You OK?"

Haley nodded and then walked into the bedroom.

Huh. Brooke thought.

--

Haley didn't speak to Brooke for nearly a week, and when they did see each other, she barely noticed her. Haley was basically doing what Brooke had done in the dream. And Brooke felt horrible. She started being unable to sleep, and by the end of the week, she look terrible. She had bags under her eyes, her hair was a mess because she just didn't care anymore. Finally, she had had enough. She was going to tell Haley. But first, she went to Peyton's. Peyton could help her clear her head and figure out what to say. As she got to Peyton's she slowed down and took a deep breath. This was the beginning of the rest of a long night.

--

"So you're really gonna tell her?" Peyton asked, afraid her friend was going to get even more hurt. She had never seen Brooke this bad before- ever. And it scared her to think that she was going to invest more of herself in what caused it in the first place.

"Yeah. I mean, I have to. I have to at least put it out there, especially now, when she's slipping away. If she doesn't feel the same way, then its over, and I'll try and get over her. But who knows, maybe she'll say she feels the same way. I just have to know. The thing is, what do I say?"

"Just be honest, Brooke. It's all you can do. As long as it comes from you're heart… Haley's smart, she'll know what you're saying, and she'll make the right choice."

"Thanks P. Sawyer."

"Anytime B. Davis. Good luck."

--

Brooke pulled up to Haley's and took her second deep breath of the night. Here goes something. She knocked on the front door and a few seconds later it opened. Haley stood there trying to think, very quickly, of a way to make Brooke leave, but Brooke opened her mouth first.

"Haley, I don't know why you've suddenly started ignoring me, but I have something to say, and I just have to say it. Please. Can I come in?"

"Brooke…" Haley started, but she couldn't turn her down. She silently and reluctantly moved out of the doorway and let her in. Brooke went and stood in the middle of the living room and took the third deep breath.

"Please, sit" she said. Haley did, battling with what she was feeling. On part of her was screaming at her to get the hell out before anything happened, another part was telling her to get the hell up and hug and kiss Brooke until the sun came back up, and the other was refusing to do anything. Guess which one I'm listening to. I'm so pathetic.

"Haley, this week has been horrible. I've never been so upset. I've never felt so terrible. Peyton's my best friend, and yeah, sometimes we've gone a week where we don't speak to each other, and I've never reacted this way. I think part of it is because I don't know why you suddenly stopped talking to me- looking at me. We were getting on so well. What happened?" Brooke stood there, fully expecting an answer, but she didn't get one. What she saw was Haley softly shaking her head. Her eyes were tearing up and her head was in her hands. Brooke wanted so badly to go over and hold her, but she knew Haley wouldn't let her. "Well, I figured that this was it. Either I say something, or I lose you forever." Haley looked up. She had never been this terrified. There was something in Brooke's tone of voice. A part of her knew what Brooke was going to say. "So here it is. I have feelings for you. Big time. And I don't know how you feel, put I needed to put it out there, because I really, really care about you. Every time I see you my heart feels like it's breaking in two because I'm not with you. When you're sad I just want to kiss away the pain, and hold you in my arms, and it kills me that I can't. I'm telling you this so it can be out in the open. If you don't feel the same way, I won't bother you again."

"Brooke I…" Haley didn't know what to say. Brooke felt the same way she did. Had. She didn't know what to feel anymore. That part of her that was terrified of being hurt was telling her it didn't matter. Brooke took Haley's silence to mean that Haley wasn't interested. She sighed and walked out the door, leaving Haley to sit alone. She started to cry.

--

Brooke sat in her room and wondered what to do. The past few weeks, apart from the one she had just been through, had been heavenly, and the flirting had driven her crazy- in a good way, of course. But that voice in the back of her mind kept telling her that not only was it too good to be true, but that she was stupid to think that Haley would ever have felt the same way about her. It didn't matter what Peyton said. There was a knock at her bedroom door and she looked up to see Haley standing there. She felt her stomach somersault but she was used to that by now.

"Hi" she said softly.

"Hi."

"I've been thinking about what you said. And how much you mean to me. And then I started to realise that I want to mean the same to you. I don't care about how crazy you are, and how mad you make me sometimes, and how frustrating this is gonna be at times. I don't care. I want this. I want this a lot. And I know we're going to be going through this blind, but… Oh, Brooke, I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else."

There you go, Merry Christmas! Please review so I know what you all think. Do you like it, where it's going? What do you want to happen? There won't be another update until I get more reviews than I have been recently, so please R&R. Have a great rest of the holiday season!