"We're fine, Hales," Lucas repeated for what felt like the tenth time into the phone. "She's asleep right now. Yes, that's why I'm trying to be quiet. No, I'm in the kitchen. Yes, I'm making food. No, Haley, it's not cereal."

"No," Brooke's sleepy voice mumbled from the open door. "No. No, please. Stop it. Don't-I don't want to-no! PLEASE! NO! NO, PLEASE!"

"Hales, I need to go, she's freaking out."

Without any further explanation, Lucas rushed into the bedroom to find Brooke thrashing around desperately, tangled in the sheets.

"Honey," Lucas assured her, crawling slowly beside her and gently taking her hands in his to stop their movements. "Brooke, sweetie, wake up. It's Lucas. You're safe."

Her eyes snapped open and she suddenly swung her legs over him suddenly, rendering him unable to move.

"Brooke! It's Lucas," he panted. He had no idea that tiny Brooke Davis could be so very strong. And so very fast.

"Sorry," she murmured sheepishly, slowly releasing her hold on him and crawling up toward the headboard.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. He shook his head at himself. "That was a dumb question."

Brooke cracked a small smile. "What else are you supposed to say, Luke?"

"True," the blonde smiled back. "I'm in the middle of cooking. Do you want to stay here or come with me?"

"I'll just stay here," Brooke said softly, sinking back into the pillows.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Brooke affirmed. "I don't feel very well. Like I said earlier, withdrawals."

"Let me know if I can get you anything, okay?"

Brooke nodded and watched him go with a small sigh. He was being so great to her, and Nathan had assured her that Lucas would never see her as damaged; regardless, she felt like she still was. She felt like if he knew in detail the things she had done, he would never look at her the same. That he would never want to touch her the way he used to or even look her in the eyes.

She could hear him in the kitchen, vaguely humming some angsty acoustic song that she had heard play in Peyton's room. He had rejected Peyton. He had outright had the opportunity to be with her and hadn't taken it, even when he had no reason to believe that Brooke was anything but a drug addicted slut. That had to mean something, she thought to herself.

"Brooke?" Lucas asked softly, scared to wake her as he re-entered the room some time later. She was asleep again, curled up facing the door. Her lips were pouted and he smiled at the familiar way her light breath was fluttering bits of her dark hair around her face. "Pretty girl, wake up. We need to get some food in you."

He went to touch her only to find that her skin was both clammy and scalding hot. He stepped back, surprised at first, before shaking her awake.

"Brooke, you're burning up."

"Withdrawals," she groaned. She was covered in goosebumps, her hands shaking. "I don't think I can eat, Luke."

"It might make you feel better."

Brooke closed her eyes, giving in as she attempted to stand. Lucas caught her deftly as her trembling legs gave out. Lucas shook his head worriedly, putting her back in bed.

"Forget the kitchen," he said. "I'll bring it in here. And my laptop, so you can watch a movie."

He hurried around the house, gathering everything he needed for a successful late night dinner in bed, setting up his laptop. He watched Brooke grin as the title came on the screen.

"Weird Science," she giggled, and for once she sounded uninhibited. "Come sit, broody. It's our movie."

He smiled at her, sitting beside her and trying to ignore the swooping sensation in his stomach everytime her bare skin brushed his. He listened to her giggle and quote the movie in her raspy voice despite the fact that her skin was still radiating heat from her fever and that her body seemed to be covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

"You okay, Cheery?" he asked softly halfway through the movie as he watched her clutch her head.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"You don't seem okay," Lucas said. "We can turn off the movie, you look like you could use some more sleep."

"No!" she burst out, panicked.

"Okay," Lucas replied slowly. "We won't turn off the movie, then."

"I just…I like this," Brooke said after a moment of silence. "I like just laying here with you, watching this. It feels like old times."

He smiled at her gently and was surprised to feel her fingers intertwine with his.

"Honestly, Luke, thank you so much," Brooke whispered.

"Of course," he replied. "Like I said, anything for you."

"I just don't get why."

"Why what?"

"Why you're willing to do anything for me," Brooke shrugged. Lucas chuckled lowly.

"You really don't get it it?"

Brooke shook her head back and forth and Lucas couldn't help but give her a crooked grin.

"I'm head over heels in love with you," he explained casually, brushing her bangs off of her feverish forehead. "That's what people that are in love do, Brooke."

He watched her lick her lips, a nervous habit he knew she had. She went to open her mouth to speak but snapped it shut again, closing her hazel eyes.

"Brooke, you don't have to say anything back," Lucas assured her. "I mean it. I just…I want you to know how I feel about you. I'm totally fine with just being your friend, that's cool, but I just think you should know that I am in love with you, that I never fell out of love with you. That I'm never going to."

"You say that now," Brooke mumbled, opening her eyes but averting them from his.

"What do you mean, Cheery?"

"You know the basics," she said numbly. "You know the bits and pieces, but you don't know all the things I've done. You would fall out of love with me very quickly."

"There isn't anything you can tell me that would change how I feel."

"You say that now," Brooke repeated.

"Try me," Lucas challenged. He saw her contemplate something, and whatever it was caused her eyes to darken.

"I guess I don't have much to lose."

"Don't say that."

"It's true," she shrugged. "I don't have much anymore. I got pretty used to you not being around for a while, I'll be fine."

"No one is leaving, Brooke," Lucas said fiercely. "Especially not me."

She bit her lip and closed her eyes, keeping them closed as she slowly began to speak. "The first few times, it was never sex. It was just everything else. Well, everything you can do to a man. They just wanted me to please them and that was it. The first time, I said I wouldn't do it, but he explained to me what would happen to my dad if I didn't, and for some sick, twisted reason, I love my dad. Even now."

"But then my dad started using me as a reward, too. If guys did a good job, he'd send them to my room. And that wasn't as bad, they were never hurtful or cruel and they never made me do anything too weird. I think most of them are just sad. They're young, mostly, and I think they're in over their heads just like me. This one guy, Ryan, came back from killing one of another mob's guys, and when he got sent to my room, he begged me to just listen to him talk. So we just laid together and I listened and it was okay."

"But it wasn't like that with my dad's suppliers, or with people he was trying to buy off. This one guy, he um…he tied me up for nearly two hours and just did…everything imaginable to me. It was horrible, and painful, but he'd smack me if I cried. It felt like assault."

"That is assault," Lucas growled, subconsciously reaching out and tightening his hands around Brooke's hips.

"Then there were the types that wanted to be tied up and dominated and whatever. That wasn't too bad either, just a lot of saying some weird shit and throwing them around. I just feel so fucking dirty, Lucas. I've had sex with all of these men. In all kinds of positions and ways and all of this shit and I'm just…I'm nothing. I'm nothing but that anymore."

"Brooke!" Lucas exclaimed, trying to catch up with her as she shakily made her way out of the room. "Where are you going? Come on, you need to rest."

"I should go," she said raspily. There was a sudden pounding on the door and Lucas tensed, shoving the shaking Brooke into the kitchen.

"Hide," he demanded.

"This is my problem," Brooke argued.

"It's our problem," he corrected. "And you're in no state to deal with this."

In jeans and a wife beater, he was at least more clothed than Brooke. She let out a trembling breath and nodded, slowly tip toeing into the kitchen as the knocking became louder and louder.

Lucas swung open the door, ready for a fight. He was shocked to find a young guy, maybe a few years older than himself, looking around worriedly.

"Brooke?" the guy yelled.

"Woah," Lucas warned, pushing him back. "You can't come in here. Who the hell are you?"

The guy ignored him, continuing to shout for Brooke. The brunette appeared suddenly, still just clad in her black lace lingerie.

"Ryan?"

"Brooke!" he exclaimed, running toward her and urgently putting his hands on her shoulders. "You need to run."

"What?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Your dad, he flipped out. He found out that people know. You've got to get out of here. I went to your friends' houses. Peyton is all ready on her way to Savannah, and Nathan and Haley are going to meet you two in Atlanta. You can either go to Savannah from there, or you can go somewhere else. Take this."

He handed her a duffle bag and pressed a hard kiss on her forehead. "Get yourself out of here, Brooke."

"Ryan," Brooke called desperately as he turned to leave. "What about you? He has to know you've warned me-"

"I'll be fine," he cut her off. "I really will."

The two shared a look that Lucas found it difficult to describe. It was the kind of look that only two people who had seen too much together could share. Brooke nodded resolutely.

"Good luck, Brooke."

With that, he was gone, leaving Lucas staring at the open duffle bag at Brooke's feet, containing thousands upon thousands of dollars in cash and even more in drugs.

"You heard him," Brooke snapped. "Let's get a move on."

And that is how Lucas found himself in the passenger seat of Brooke's bug as she drove at a ridiculously dangerous velocity toward Atlanta, Georgia.