A/N – Hey everyone!
Thanks: TeamxxBrulianxx, tanya2byour21, babyd21, Mosie1213, Princesakarlita411, Kimberlli, tp404, AHJNKCES, koumi11, Sam, Jill Cohen, dianehermans, dolcegrazia, Long Live BRUCAS, cRaZyGuRl093, moonkisss, BrucasLove123, idoloveyou, mel, and haylee.
Thanks so, so, so much for the reviews! Here's chapter 10- hope you enjoy!
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Like a Laceration to the Soul
Chapter 10 –
"Good morning, boys!" Brooke cheerfully spoke as she entered the hospital room
Lucas looked up from his son to face the brunette. "You're extremely happy today, Brooke." He noted.
"And why wouldn't I be? Sawyer's doing much better, isn't he?"
The blonde nodded at that, allowing a small smile to form onto his lips. "That he is."
"So then what is it?" Brooke asked cautiously, taking a seat next to him in the small, cramped room. "You can tell me, Luke."
He looked down instead of facing her, not saying one word.
"It's Peyton…" She guessed, seemingly taking the words out of his mouth.
It was then that Lucas picked his head up and frowned, nearly letting tears escape from his eyes. "She hasn't called me back, Brooke. It's like she doesn't even care anymore…she doesn't care about me…and she doesn't care about our son."
Brooke slowly placed an arm over his shoulders and pulled him closer. "She's gonna call, Lucas. Even better; she's gonna come back. She's going to realize what two amazing people she left behind, and she's going to come back. You just wait."
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"I—I'm late."
Haley's eyes widened as the information processed. "Are you—do you know if you're-"
"No." She shook her head. "I didn't take a test…I didn't tell Lucas…I didn't do anything." She began freaking out. "This has been on my mind for a while now, and that's the problem. I haven't done a thing. All this shit is piling up…and…and I just can't, Haley. I just can't do this anymore. It's…It's too hard." The sobs cracked her speech and she tried pulling herself together. There was no point though. It was too much. She was slowly but surely allowing her emotions to consume her every action.
"Brooke…" Haley tried to soothe her, pulling her into her arms. "It'll all be okay. But, you should take a test…that way you'll know what to do."
Brooke, wiping her eyes, slowly nodded. "You're right."
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"So." Lucas broke the silence as he and his son sat at the kitchen table eating dinner. "What do ya think, bud?"
"Mama's food is better." Sawyer replied, playing around with the food on his plate with a fork.
"Hey, I worked very hard on this meal for you." Lucas replied defensively. "And I wasn't talking about the dinner. I was talking about Peyton." He smirked at the young boy.
"Oh." Sawyer smiled. "Well in that case, I think she's pretty cool."
"Yeah? That's good. So you'd want to hang out with her again?"
"I guess." He shrugged. "But…where's mama? She's never home anymore."
"I know, Sawy. I miss her too."
Just as Lucas was about to go on, the phone rang.
"Hold that thought." He spoke, getting up from the table.
"But you never answer the phone during dinner." Sawyer noted.
"Maybe it's your mom." He replied back quickly to Sawyer. Sawyer's face immediately lit up with excitement as his father spoke into the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, Luke." Haley's voice on the other end sounded anxious and uneasy.
"Hey, Haley. Is something wrong?...You sound…off."
"It's about Brooke." She quickly looked around to make sure Brooke wasn't around.
"Is everything alright?" He panicked. "Is she okay?"
"Well…yeah but…" She stopped and sighed. "Look, Luke, I normally would never go against Brooke's wishes, and by making this call I so am…but, she's going home in a little bit, and when she does, Lucas, just talk to her, okay?"
"Haley-"
"Just promise me, Luke. She needs you to talk to her. She may not want to, but you have to."
"Okay…?" He replied slightly confused. What was wrong with Brooke? Why wasn't Haley telling him anything?
"I got to go before she comes back; I'll talk to you later."
Lucas hung up but stared at the phone for a good few seconds after that. He wanted it to ring again, and he wanted it to be Brooke. A part of him thought this was karma for him rejecting her earlier call. Now, more than ever, he wanted to speak to her.
"Wasn't mama, was it?" Sawyer asked, shaking his head.
"No, sorry, buddy."
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Walking up the pathway to the front door just somehow didn't feel right. It felt like it had been an eternity since she'd been there, yet it'd only been a day. It wasn't something she wanted to do, but it was what she rather needed to.
Brooke quietly slipped through the front door, hoping her entrance would not be noticed. But, she was mistaken when she soon heard the sound of feet quickly running towards her.
"Mama!" Sawyer immediately ran into her arms, excited as ever to see his mother.
"Hey, my handsome baby boy. How are you?" She asked, holding him close in her arms.
"Good…" He told her with a smile, but when Brooke noticed his face turn from happy to confused, she knew what he was going to ask. "But where were you?"
She took a moment to decide on an answer, on a lie, to tell the precious young boy. "I just needed some time to myself, but I thought about you the whole time, you know." She smiled and brushed tufts of blonde hair out of his eyes. "And I'm so sorry for everything." She embraced him tighter.
"Hey, Brooke." The sound she heard next left her feeling paralyzed, as she slowly managed to stand up from where she was with Sawyer to reach Lucas's startling blue eyes.
"Hi, Luke." Her voice cracked as she spoke, pushing hair behind her ear in an awkward manner.
"Oh, mama!" Sawyer must have not had noticed the tension. "I wanna show you something. Stay right here!" He ordered.
Before she was able to respond, he dashed off upstairs into his room.
"Luke…I…"
"I know you were at Nathan and Haley's..."
She nodded slowly, not sure where to go from there. Before any more talking could be exchanged between the two, Sawyer rushed back downstairs with a large piece of paper.
"Look!" He pointed to it. "It's me. Isn't it cool?" He was enthused.
As Brooke's eyes landed on the object her son was showing her, it all made sense to Brooke. It was why Lucas hadn't picked up the phone. It was the reason Brooke had left home the previous night.
"Wow…"She spoke, her voice shaky. "That is something, buddy. How 'bout you go on upstairs to your room to hang it up- Give me and your daddy a chance to talk?"
"Okay." He seemed not to mind as he went back up the stairs.
Once they heard their son's door close, on an impulse, Brooke crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "So you took him to see her."
"I told you I would." He stated plainly.
"No." She shook her head. "No you didn't. You never told me you were going today. You said you were thinking about the whole thing. There's a huge difference, Lucas."
"How, Brooke? You made it crystal clear to me that you wanted nothing to do with any of that stuff." He defended himself.
"Oh, please, Luke. You should've at least told me. I have a right to know."
"And don't you think I have a right to know certain things too?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Haley called me."
"…And…?" She wasn't understanding.
"And…" He continued for her. "What's going on, Brooke?"
"Wh-What?" She stuttered. "What did Haley tell you?"
"To talk to you, Brooke. You're the one that needs to tell me something."
"Nothing's going on, Lucas." Brooke waved him off. "You know, Haley. She worries about everything."
Lucas sighed. "Brooke. I'm going to ask you this again. What is going on?"
"Lucas!"
"Brooke…" He tested her.
"It was nothing…okay…" She shook her head, and began pacing. "I thought…I thought I might have been pregnant."
Lucas was instantly taken back upon the news, so Brooke quickly clarified.
"I said I thought, Luke. I was late, but I took the test there, and-"
"Wait." He held his hand up to cut her off. "How am I the last person to find out about this?" From his voice, she could guess he was getting angry. "I should be the first."
"Oh, don't go there, Lucas. Do not go there. Because guess what, I should've been the first person to find out about your secret meeting with Peyton. And I found out from Sawyer none the less! So don't even start with that. And you know what? You would've been the first had you picked up your goddamn phone!"
"Brooke…"
"No, Luke. Don't tell me that what I did was wrong when you won't even pick up your goddamn phone when I call you!"
"Forget it. Forget it, okay? Look…Are you sure you're not pregnant?"
"I told you. I took the test. It was negative."
"There are such things as false-negatives." Lucas reminded her.
"Luke, I'm not-" She was cut off by no words, yet his glance. "Fine." She settled. "If it will make you happy, I'll make an appointment for the morning."
"I'll come with you." He immediately offered.
"No, it's fine. You need to stay home and watch Sawyer. I can go myself."
"Brooke, please. Can you please just put everything that's been happening aside for this one time and let me go with you? We can take Sawyer to Haley and Nathan's."
She didn't want to argue; she didn't want to fight.
"Fine." Brooke reluctantly agreed. "Okay."
The two seemed to just stand there in silence; an unbearable silence.
"Luke, if I am…" Her raspy voice trailed off, her eyes slowly moving to meet his.
"We'll figure it out." He assured her. "I promise you."
It seemed to be an acceptable answer because Brooke, without any other words, nodded and walked away, leaving Lucas to bask in his own thoughts.
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"Hey, is everything alright?" Lucas wrapped his arms around her, dropping a kiss onto her head.
"Yeah…" She spoke almost inaudibly, nodding.
"It's just you've been quiet the whole night and Brooke Davis usually never shuts up." He tried to get a smile out of her, but no such luck.
Ignoring him, Brooke unraveled herself from his grasp and turned to Sawyer in his highchair. "I got to get Sawyer to bed…Come on baby boy." She lifted him up and positioned him safely in her arms.
"Brooke…Please. Something's bothering you."
She tried to pretend he wasn't there, but even with her back turned against him she could still feel his gaze on her. Slowly, turning around, she mumbled. "I called Peyton."
"About what the lawyer said?"
Brooke nodded.
"And…?"
"She said…she said she'd let me know. In other words, it's a no, Luke."
"But she didn't say that." He tried to point out. "She didn't say no, she didn't."
"Lucas…" She sadly shook her head and began walking up the stairs to put Sawyer to bed.
"Everything will work out, Brooke." He called out to her. "It'll be okay."
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A/N –
Thanks for anonymous reviewers:
tp404 – Thanks so much for the review! Well, you didn't find out if she was pregnant in this chapter, but you will definitely know for sure in the next!
Sam – Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story so much!
mel – Thanks for the review! I told you there'd be more drama lol. You'll find out if she's pregnant in the next chapter. I know this chapter wasn't much longer than the last, and I'm sorry for that. I'll try to make the next one longer.
haylee – Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad you like the story. I do love Julian, however I wouldn't expect an appearance from him in this story lol. Things are already complicated and I think adding him would make things even worse…which we definitely do not want lol. But thanks for the suggestion. And it's not that Sawyer is like sick-sick, it's just there are always precautions to be taken with transplant hearts. Thanks again :)
So, how'd everyone like the chapter? It's been sitting in my documents for like 2 days and I just couldn't get it right. Personally, I'm not too happy with it, but we'll see.
Leave a review pretty please :) Thankss!
(P.S. for anyone interested lol – I'm currently watching 5x05 on soapnet waiting for the BL scenes! Lol =] )
--Melissa