Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

Author's Note: I am sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I have been having issues with my computer, jump drive, the story itself, and everything else as of late and haven't had the time to finish this chapter and what I do have written... isn't that amazing. Hopefully I'll make it up to you all with the next chapter. Hope you haven't lost complete faith in me for this chapter.

Author's Note 2: I was going to edit this chapter some more, but when I opened it up on the Document Manager this evening, Hallelujah by Kate Voegele came on my iPod and I decided it was a sign that this chapter was finished.

Author's Note 3: Don't let the length fool you... this chapter is not amazing. It babbles on about nothing and I don't know why I even wrote it like this. The only person who really has anything to do in this chapter is Nathan... and he is barely in this chapter at all.

Author's Note 4: I know I said at the end of Overdose of Pain, Onslaught of Reality that I wasn't going to bring Keith back... but I changed my mind. Sort of. This babbling author's note will make more sense after you've read the chapter. Believe me.

Author's Note 5: Like the prequel to this story, after chapter 10 there will be an author's note. I just thought I'd give you all a heads up.

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Broken Hearts and Healing Minds

Chapter 9

Lucas jogged the rest of the way home, not caring if he got his heart rate up to dangerous levels. He needed to talk to Nathan, now, to find out what the hell was wrong with his brother outside of being seriously hung over. Nathan had been extremely pissed off only half an hour before at the river court and Lucas wanted to know why. He knew it had something to do with the fact that Lucas had yet to tell him about the fact that he was going through with the surgery on his heart, but Lucas also knew that it was something bigger.

Lucas raced up the steps to his apartment, finding the door unlocked, but closed as he reached it. He threw it open, hoping to find Nathan on the other side and already knowing that he wouldn't. It wasn't like Nathan to just stick around after an argument that huge. No, Nathan had already left, if his note that he had left was anything to go by.

-Lucas, sorry about what I said earlier, but I meant every word. Until you start being more honest with yourself and more honest with me, I can't handle being in the same apartment. Not when your crappy decisions affect everyone, not just you. Tell Brooke that I'm sorry about prom, but I can't handle being in Tree Hill anymore. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. –Nathan

Lucas swore angrily and threw the piece of paper down onto the table. He curled both hands into fists, wincing as his injured one throbbed in protest. Somewhere in the distance, his cell phone started to ring, but he didn't care. Unless someone was dying, there was no way in hell he was going to answer it. Nathan was gone and it was all Lucas's fault.

"Damn it!" Lucas swore again, catching sight of the time. It was nine forty-five. The hospital was half an hour away; there was no way he would ever make it in time for his appointment. Not that he was planning on going now that his idiot of a brother was missing.

"Lucas, you home?"

Lucas started at the sound of Peyton's voice. They had just seen each other at the river court; what the hell did she want now?

"Yeah, I'm in here!" he called back, unable to keep the agitation fully out of his voice.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked, walking into the kitchen, carrying her cell phone in one hand and an envelope in the other.

"I, uh, Nathan got pissed at me and I wanted to try and find him before he did anything stupid," Lucas said, sighing and putting his head in his hands. "I was too late."

"Yeah, I know," Peyton said. Lucas looked at her, confused.

"You do?" he asked, incredulously. She nodded. "How?"

Peyton held up the envelope and set it on the table, pushing it across to Lucas.

"He stopped by my house a couple minutes after I got home. I didn't hear him. Brooke stopped by, looking for Stephen, and gave this to me. Said she found it on my door. I haven't opened it yet," she said.

"Damn it," Lucas swore for the third time. "Where the hell did he go? Why the hell did he leave?"

"Well, what were you two fighting about? Maybe that caused him to leave," Peyton suggested. Lucas shrugged.

"He was yelling at me for not telling him about the whole surgery thing the second he walked in the door last night," Lucas said. "I didn't think he would seriously leave."

He shook his head in sad disbelief of what had happened. He barely glanced up as Peyton put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll find him, don't worry," she said. "But you need to get to that doctor's appointment."

"Shit!" Lucas exclaimed, jumping up. "Damn it, he took the car."

"C'mon, I'll drive," Peyton said.


Nathan sighed as he pulled onto the interstate. He felt guilty for taking the car, but he needed to get out of town quickly and taking the bus just wouldn't cut it. It was only a matter of time before Lucas realized he left and would start looking for him. Nathan wanted to avoid that conversation at all costs.

Nathan slammed on the brakes; barely avoiding someone's back bumper. He ignored the angry horn honking and the screeching of tires as he swerved lanes and stomped on the accelerator.

He was discovering quickly that it was probably not the brightest idea to drive while hung over. He had already nearly hit someone three times because he wasn't able to pay attention to the road due to the pounding in his head and he had to pull over twice to throw up.

Nathan heard his cell phone go off in the seat beside him. He didn't bother sparing it a glance; he didn't need to get into a wreck because of cell phone use. Besides, he had a feeling that it was probably Lucas or Peyton, wondering where the hell he was, where he was going, and when he was coming back. Nathan couldn't answer either of those questions right now, for he was too pissed off to care.

Nathan knew he was being immature by running away and he knew he was being an idiot for getting pissed off at Lucas. He needed to get away from everything that was haunting him in Tree Hill, though. His mother's death, even though it had happened over a year ago, was still the main subject for most of his nightmares and he couldn't take them anymore. Haley had been one of the main reasons he had been staying in Tree Hill instead of ducking out right after his mother's death like he had been planning on. Now that she was out of his life, the only thing that was keeping Nathan tied to Tree Hill was Lucas and Nathan needed to get away from his brother. They had been in such tight quarters lately that neither had room to breathe.

He had no idea where he was going, figuring he would drive north for a while until he made a decision. It was wasting gas and money he didn't have, but he figured that the car was going to die soon anyway, that he might as well do it.

Rain started falling steadily as he pushed the car up to the speed limit. The windshield wipers had always been crap on the piece of junk, but they worked well enough to show him the road and the cars in front of him. It was the bare minimum, but what the hell in his life wasn't?

Nathan needed to talk to someone, but was running out of options. He had tried talking to Peyton, but even his best friend wasn't enough sometimes. He needed an adult to talk to, someone who would be able to tell him everything would be okay and actually mean it. The problem was, there wasn't anyone fitting that description in Tree Hill. Dan was about as far away from a parent as one could get and Deb was dead.

Nathan turned on the radio, trying to find a halfway decent radio station. He soon gave up when the static made his headache worse and every station in the local area was determined to play commercials.

He saw a wreck up ahead and went to change lanes to avoid it. He saw the license plate on one of the cars and knew instantly where he wanted to go, who he needed to talk to.


Lucas was silent as Peyton pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. He barely flinched as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll find Nathan," she said. "He won't go too far. He's just mad and needs some time to figure things out. He'll come home when he's ready."

"I know," Lucas said, sighing. "He was right, though. Everything he said, it was all the truth. He had every right to walk out that door. Hell, I would have done the same thing."

"We can worry about that later," Peyton said. "Right now, you need to focus on this doctor's appointment."

Lucas nodded, opening the door and climbing out. Peyton was close behind him as he walked into the clinic part of the hospital.

Lucas signed in and then sat in a random chair far away from everyone else. Peyton sat down beside him and picked up one of the magazines. She started flipping through the pages.

"Look at this! It says here that men ages prefer women that are under the age of twenty-five. Is that true? Do you think they'll like me?"

Lucas rolled his eyes as Peyton laughed at him, flipping through the pages some more. He was glad that she was here, even if it made things really awkward.

"Lucas Scott?" a nurse called.

Lucas stood up with Peyton close behind him.

"Hey," he said, stopping and turning around to face her. "I'm grateful that you drove me here and that you are here, but this is something I need to do by myself."

"I understand," she said, motioning towards the door. "Go ahead. I'll wait for you out here."

"Thanks, Peyton," he said, smiling slightly at her before turning and walking down the hallway.


Peyton was bored. Lucas had been in with the doctor for over an hour now and she had nothing to do. She had already read all the magazines within reaching distance, including the ones about fishing and camping. She was about ready to scream.

The door to the clinic opened, letting in a gust of cold, wet air. A rainstorm had started outside, making the already depressing conditions inside of the waiting room absolutely miserable.

Peyton looked up to see who was walking through the door, wondering if it was someone interesting. She was surprised to see Brooke walking in, looking shy and out of place amongst the crowds of people already in the waiting room.

Haley was right behind her, keeping a steady hand on her cousin's back as they walked towards the registration desk. Brooke grabbed the clipboard, said something to the nurse, and then promptly filled out the form with the necessary information. She handed it back to the nurse with a slight smile.

Peyton took a quick glance around as the two girls by the registration desk started looking for a place to sit. The only empty seats were near Peyton. She sighed, hoping that Lucas would hurry up with his appointment so she could avoid the going to be awkward situation that had presented itself.

Brooke led the way over to the hospital chairs at Haley's reluctance. They had obviously seen Peyton and Haley obviously didn't want to talk to her. Peyton wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to either of them at that moment, either, but it didn't look like she was going to have a choice. Maybe she would get lucky and they would both ignore her.

"Hey," Brooke said, sounding pleasantly surprised as she sat down across from Peyton. Haley took up the seat next to her and started picking nervously at her nails.

"Hey," Peyton said, deciding that it couldn't hurt to be nice to Brooke, no matter how much she wanted to kill her. It wasn't the other girl's fault that Stephen was a jerk.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," Brooke said. She was in a chatty mood, something Peyton really didn't want. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Peyton said brightly. "Everything's great. I'm just here for a check-up. In fact, my ride's here."

Lucas had come out of the examination area with a packet full of papers and talking on his cell phone. He obviously didn't see Peyton, Brooke, or Haley sitting in the corner as he headed towards the door.

Peyton slid out of her seat and started walking towards the door. She heard Haley call her name and mutter something to Brooke. She wasn't that surprised to find the other girl stopping her right at the doors.

"What's going on?" Haley demanded. They both moved to the side as an elderly man with a walker moved through the automatic doors to avoid being run over. "Why is Lucas here?"

"How would I know?" Peyton asked, her bitchy side making an appearance. "I haven't talked to Lucas in over a month."

Haley gave her a disbelieving look, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so.

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" she asked, shaking her head. "I'm many things, Peyton, but stupid is not one of them. What's going on between the two of you? And where is Nathan? If it concerns Lucas, shouldn't he be here?"

"I already told you," Peyton said icily, hating herself for being so mean to her former friend. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Why don't you try opening your eyes every now and then and paying attention to someone other than yourself? You might be surprised to learn that things aren't always as they seem."

With that, she turned and stomped through the sliding doors and out into the freezing rain beyond.

Lucas was just closing his cell phone and leaning up against the wet car door when Peyton reached him. He was holding a small black object and the pile of papers in his good hand. His other hand, Peyton was pleased to discover, was incased in a thick white cast.

"Sorry I didn't come to find you," he said, shoving the black object and his cell phone into his back pocket. "I was on the phone with the police to report Nathan as a missing person. Turns out I have to wait another twenty-four hours before he's officially missing and until then, they're just going to sit around, drink coffee, and get fat off of donuts."

He was nearly yelling by the time he finished talking. Peyton stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he had just said. It had come out in such a jumbled rush that she didn't quite understand it all.

"Just calm down, okay?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Nathan will be fine. He's emancipated, he's allowed to leave whenever he wants, and he'll come home when he's ready. In the meantime, you need to focus just on you, okay? What did the doctor say?"

Lucas took a deep breath and sighed. He ran his casted hand through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment.

"They gave me a pager," he said. "They'll page me whenever someone's available to do the transplant. Until then, I just get to sit around and wait. They also told me no strenuous activities, no basketball, and no near-death experiences until after the surgery."

Peyton smirked slightly at the added no near death experiences. She highly doubted that his cardiologist told all his patients that and had heard about what all Lucas had been through as of late.

"Did they say anything about you not being able to go to prom?" she asked, unlocking the car doors so they could get out of the freezing rain.

Lucas got into the car before she did and shook his head. He shot her a guilty look as she climbed into the driver's side.

"I'm actually thinking about ditching prom," he admitted. "I was only going because Nathan was going to go and now that he's not going… I don't know. There's really not a point in going, I guess."

"No! You have to go!" Peyton exclaimed, shocked that he would be thinking like that. "I can't suffer through two hours of Stephen pining over Brooke by myself! I need some form of entertainment! And Haley's bound to be with Tyler Morrison and anyways, she hates me now, so there's no use in asking her! Please, Luke! Come to the prom!"

Lucas shot her a weird glance, as if he hadn't been expecting her to protest his lack on interest in going to the prom.

"I guess I could go," he said, shrugging. "If you want me to."

"I do want you to come," she said, putting the key in the ignition and starting the car. She pulled out of the parking space and headed towards the hospital exit. "So, where do you want to go? I'll gladly be your taxi cab for the day."

"I just kind of want to go back to the apartment," he said, turning and staring out the window at the rain falling outside.

"All righty then," she said, sighing mentally. He was in a bad mood, that much was obvious, and she knew him well enough to know that when he got like this that it was pretty much useless to try to talk him out of it.

"Actually," he said, his voice suddenly hesitant. Peyton spared Lucas a glance, raising an eyebrow. "Could we go to the cemetery? There's someone there I need to talk to."

To say that Peyton was shocked by this sudden request was like saying that the sun was cold.

"If you want to," she said, shrugging and trying to act as though it were no big deal. Lucas had never once shown any interest in going to visit his mother in the time she had known him. And from what she had discerned from Nathan yesterday, Lucas hadn't changed his views on that point either.

"Look, I know it's sudden and the weather is crappy," Lucas said, sounding apologetic now. "But, would you mind coming with me?"

"Yeah, sure," she said quietly, still trying to understand his sudden need to go to the cemetery. She had a feeling she would never understand, that she should just accept it for what it was and move on.

She sighed, flipping on the radio. Lucas wasn't in a talking mood and the silence would drive her insane if it kept up any longer.


Lucas wasn't sure why he was here, but couldn't help but feel a sense of peace wash over him as he crouched in the damp grass in front of his mother's headstone. Peyton was nearby at her own mother's headstone, murmuring something that Lucas couldn't quite make out.

"Hey, mom," he said, shifting nervously. He felt like an idiot for doing this. "I'm sorry I haven't been here. I've just been pretty busy, you know?"

He was silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say that didn't have him sounding like a dork or an idiot.

"I love you," he whispered, touching his good hand to the headstone. "And I'm sorry that you died because of me. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't remember what happened and regret that stupid fight with you. I wish there was something I could do to change it, but I can't. I just wanted you to know that I'm so sorry."

"She knows," Peyton said softly from behind him.

Lucas started; he hadn't realized she had walked up until she had said something. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I know, but sometimes, I just can't help but wonder what would have happened if I hadn't had that fight with her that day," he said, looking away from her.

"You wouldn't have met me," Peyton pointed out. Lucas cracked a smile.

"I would have worked up the courage to talk to you eventually," he said, standing up and looking back at the headstone. "I wished you could have met her, Peyton. You would have really liked her."

"I already do," she said, smiling as Lucas looked back at her. "She raised you to be the person you are. And even if you are sometimes an idiot, I'm still glad you're around, Luke. Don't forget that I'm here, even if no one else is."

"I'm here for you, too," he said, taking her hand in his own.

They stood in silence, looking at the headstone, and letting the rain falling around them be their conversation.


Nathan parked the car in one of the parking spaces and cut the engine. He glanced around, feeling really out of place in his ancient rust bucket amidst the brand new Hondas and Toyotas. There was only one other car in almost as bad as shape as his and it stood out.

Sighing, he got out of the car and headed towards one of the apartment buildings. He climbed the stairs to door number eight and knocked, holding his breath as he did so. Part of him hoped that the person wouldn't be home, while the other part wished that the person was.

The door opened. Nathan rearranged his face into a smile as the person behind the door looked at him in shock.

"Nathan?"

"Hey, Keith."