Hi guys! First of all- I'm really sorry that I still didn't thank all those of you who have been reviewing properly... I know that I promised I would and I don't want you to think that I haven't done so out of lack of appreciation, because trust me- I love you guys for your amazing support! You seriously are the ones who are helping me continue to write throughout this hectic period... I have made a short list of thank-you's at the end of the chapter. It's really the least I can do and I promise that I will seriously try to get to everyone who will review from this chapter and on again. Your reviews do mean a lot!
I hope that this will help ease the wait until OTH returns... I seriously wish that when the show will be back, Brooke's storyline will be dealt with properly and that we won't be sucked into all the Peyton drama again (like Mark always ends up doing...). Anyway, this is my new chapter, and I hope you'll enjoy it! ;-)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the OTH characters.
Chapter 14
Haley glanced down at the girl that was held in between her arms and Rachel's arms, and let out a soft sigh. It was long after Lucas' visit, and even though Brooke was no longer sobbing uncontrollably, she still had silent tears rolling down her cheeks and had yet to speak a word to her or to Rachel. Brooke still appeared so vulnerable and shaken up that neither Haley nor Rachel dared to let go of her. She seemed so disconnected and detached that as Haley and Rachel had covered her trembling, bare shoulders with a jacket and had helped her up to the bed, Haley couldn't help but wonder if Brooke had even been aware of what had been going on around her. Haley was so mad at Lucas for pushing Brooke into this distant, petrified state that she could only truly calm her fury down when Brooke's heartbreaking sobs had ceased, signaling that Brooke was at least somewhat brought back from reliving the frightening attack that she had been through.
When she suddenly heard Brooke trying to muffle a sniffle and noticed that Rachel's idle strokes of Brooke's back had picked up their pace, Haley instinctively tightened her grasp on her friend and gently asked, "Brooke… Are you alright, sweetie?"
In response, Brooke let out another sniffle and nodded, her eyes still sending misbehaving tears down her face.
It was Rachel's turn to speak now, as she eyed Brooke with concern, "Brooke… Lucas didn't hurt you, did he?" Rachel hesitantly and carefully asked and, feeling the need to clarify her question, added, "Physically, I mean…"
Brooke drew away from Haley and Rachel's sheltering embrace and wiped her eyes clear of tears. Avoiding her friends' gazes, she hoarsely croaked, "No…"
"Do you want to tell us what happened?" Haley encouraged, eyeing Brooke with interest and concern. When Brooke hesitated to reply, Haley thought that maybe it had been too early to question Brooke about the encounter she understood that Brooke had with Lucas in Las Vegas. She was about to change the subject as she observed how Brooke was nervously fidgeting in front of her, but before Haley could say anything, Brooke began to quietly speak.
"After I got suspended from the company, I felt like I had to get away for a while…" Brooke softly said, keeping her eyes glued to her hands on her lap and away from Haley and Rachel's caring eyes, "So I got on the first flight that departed from the airport and ended up in Las Vegas…" Brooke continued, already causing Rachel and Haley's eyes to fill with tears from how lost she sounded.
"I… I thought that I'd be able to forget about the… about what happened… but then… then I just… I felt like…" Brooke's emotions were getting the better of her as she struggled to complete her sentence due to the fresh batch of tears that was choking her up. Rachel and Haley quickly scooted up to her and put their arms around her, wanting to bring Brooke back from the tough memory she obviously struggled to confront and to the safe reality that she was truly in.
"Honey it's O.K…. You don't have to talk about this if you can't…" Haley comfortingly reassured her friend, gently rubbing up and down her arm to remind her that she was safe now and that she wasn't alone. Her intense gaze at Brooke was met with a mixture of emotions on Brooke's face, indicating that Brooke couldn't stop talking about what troubled her now, when her wound was already reopened.
"When I got to the hotel I just thought that it would help me forget, you know? I stood there… in this room full of people and suddenly I couldn't breathe…" Brooke's voice cracked and squeaked as the tears, once again, washed her face. She was unable to hold them back anymore and neither were Haley and Rachel, who silently cried, thinking of how miserable Brooke must have felt facing that awful moment all alone. The two of them tightened their grip on Brooke, encouraging her to let everything out and helping Brooke continue to tell them her story, in between her cries and gasps for air.
"My body started to hurt where… Where I got…" Brooke choked, unable to complete her sentence, but Haley and Rachel both squeezed her hands, signaling to her that they understood what she meant and encouraging her to tell them what had happened next, "I tried to move, but I just froze there… I guess I… I guess I panicked…" Brooke involuntarily whimpered, the retelling of that awful day taking its toll on her. She took a few quick and sharp breaths, trying to satisfy her lungs' growing need of oxygen before she could go further.
"I just stood there all alone... Unable to move or breathe, with all those people around, and nobody noticed me… And I realized that… that I needed help…" Brooke paused to let out a sob that crushed Haley and Rachel's hearts.
"Brooke, it's O.K…." Rachel gently told her, worrying that Brooke was stressing herself out too much, but Brooke truly couldn't stop now.
"So I called Lucas… I just… His was the only number that I could clearly remember… And suddenly there were Peyton and Lucas… right in front of me… with Lucas' phone… I wanted to yell out to them, but I couldn't even talk…. I… I just stared at them until Peyton… She looked at Lucas' screen and dismissed my call…" Brooke's sobs overpowered her once again. She now buried her face in her hands and sobbed, feeling hurt, humiliated and betrayed all over again.
"I'm so sorry, Brooke…" Haley shakily said to Brooke, pulling her trembling form into her arms. She couldn't bear to see Brooke like this and after hearing how in her time of need, Brooke had been turned down by the two people she had most selflessly given her heart to over and over again, Haley truly couldn't blame Brooke for wanting to distance herself from the two blonds. She started rocking the crying brunette in her arms when Brooke's little voice found its way to her ears again.
"Peyton didn't notice me, but Lucas… He just stared at me and said nothing… It just felt like he punched me in the stomach… I just… Right then I realized that he and Peyton had been ignoring my calls on purpose all that time… So I left and went to New York…" Brooke said, hesitating to continue, but understanding that she needed to let out even the ending of her story, which was the part she was most ashamed of and had the greatest difficulty verbalizing, "I… I don't really remember much from there… Except for just wanting it all to end…" Brooke finished speaking in a shameful voice, and Haley could feel her shaking so much that it scared her almost as much as what Brooke had just admitted to her terrified her.
"Brooke…" Haley gasped in shock. She pulled Brooke out of her embrace and held onto her arms, so she could look at her face. Haley stared at her with worried, terrified eyes, understanding what a terrible emotional state Brooke had been in. She only now truly realized how Lucas and Peyton had almost caused her to lose Brooke, and that thought truly frightened her to no extent.
Brooke finally lifted her tear-filled eyes up to meet with Haley and Rachel's red, swollen ones. The remorse, guilt and hurt in Brooke's gaze blended with the fear, concern and anger in Haley and Rachel's looks and soon resulted in a large pool of emotions that was leaking from the eyes of all three girls.
"Promise me that you'll come to me if you ever feel like that again?" Haley tearfully pleaded with Brooke, fighting hard to restrain herself from sobbing in front of Brooke. When Brooke nodded with tears streaming down her face, Haley stressed once again, "To me or to Nathan or to Rachel?" she begged, counting off the three people who had fully been there for Brooke throughout this awful ordeal, the three people she knew that Brooke could fully trust.
"I promise…" Brooke almost voicelessly whispered, choking back a sob that tried to escape her lips.
"Come here…" Haley opened her arms and invited Brooke over for a hug, feeling the need to hold her friend and show her that she was there for her. In response, Brooke let out the cries that she had held back and fell into Haley's arms, pulling Rachel along into the hug.
"I will never forgive them for this…" Haley quietly said as she tightened her grasp on Brooke, unable to help but cry along with her now.
"Neither will I…" Rachel added in as her own tears washed her face. As she held Brooke while all three of them cried, she remembered the promise that she had made to herself after seeing how Brooke was beaten up and too depressed to live in the hospital. Rachel remembered how she swore to herself that she would never forgive the people who were responsible for the withering of her friend, and now she could specifically name all three of them- Victoria Davis, Peyton Sawyer and Lucas Scott…
The river-court's air was so cool that it stung Lucas' lungs, but he continued shooting hoop after hoop, nevertheless, not even caring if the ball had actually gone in the basket. He truly didn't care about the game he was playing or about how cold he was getting. All Lucas cared about at that moment was letting out the aggression that had been building up inside of him from the moment he had seen the bruises that littered Brooke's body. He was angry at himself for the decision to leave Tree Hill just when Brooke truly needed him, he was angry at himself for not returning home earlier, when he had sensed that something was wrong, and he was angry at himself for frightening and upsetting Brooke, instead of gently trying to be a good friend.
As the memory of the day in which both Angie and Brooke had fallen asleep in his arms entered Lucas' mind, he frustratedly threw the ball away. He would have given anything to go back to that time, when everything felt right and not messed up, when he had both the precious baby and the beautiful girl tucked safely into his sides. Things seemed truly perfect at that moment, with Angie's little feet twitching gently against his body in her sleep and with Brooke's warm, soft body lightly moving next to him according to her peaceful breaths, that Lucas felt truly guilty for leaving Brooke right after Angie was taken away from her, and shattering even more the feeling of the ideal family she had by her side with him and the little baby. Lucas truly wondered how things could have gone so wrong in such a short time- from Brooke looking radiant and blissful to her looking frightened and beaten up, from him playing house with Brooke, to Brooke not even wanting to be in the same house as him…
When a strong gust of wind hit Lucas' face and whisked his thoughts away, Lucas realized that he should probably return to his house, before he would catch a cold. He was just about to start walking back home when the strong headlights of a car that pulled up to the court blinded his vision. Lucas winced from the brightness that hit his eyes and, once the car turned and stopped in a way that its lights were no longer flashing in his eyes, he looked back up and saw Nathan and Jamie sitting in the car and looking at him.
"Get in, Luke" Nathan opened the window and ordered. After he had kicked Lucas out, Nathan finally spotted his son standing in the doorway of the guestroom and looking visibly shaken up and frightened. Nathan had immediately guided his reluctant son away from the sight of his godmother breaking down and offered to buy him a milkshake if he would agree to come with him. Even though Jamie had declined at first, fearing to leave Brooke alone after she was finally back, he had eventually agreed, as Nathan persistently insisted on the matter. Jamie had set only one condition- he had asked Nathan to have Lucas come along with them. The small boy didn't really understand why everyone was so upset with his uncle, who he had truly missed while he had been gone, and, thinking that bringing Lucas along might force his father and uncle to set the matters straight, had stubbornly demanded that Lucas would be part of their outing. Nathan, who had been willing to do anything to get his son out of the house by that point, had agreed, and that's how he found himself at the river-court, commanding Lucas to enter his car.
"Uncle Lucas, please come and have some milkshake with us!" Jamie asked as Lucas failed to respond to Nathan's command. He looked at Lucas with his big, blue eyes, giving him his saddest puppy face and providing him with no possibility but to nod and get in the car. There was nothing he wouldn't do for that boy, especially when he would give him that irresistible look.
Lucas took a seat in front, beside Nathan and quietly watched the road as Nathan drove. There were a million questions he had to ask his brother, but he knew better than to bring them up in front of his young nephew. When the three of them entered one of Tree Hill's small diners and Jamie insisted on going to watch his milkshake being made with the waitress, Lucas couldn't hold back anymore and anxiously asked.
"How is she?" Lucas blurted, causing Nathan's eyes to slip away from his son's distant figure, which he had been watching, over to Lucas.
"What were you thinking, man?!" Nathan exclaimed with rage, fighting to keep his angry voice down to a civil tone.
"I don't know what to think, Nate! I come back home and nobody will tell me what the hell is going on!" Lucas replied with frustration, causing Nathan to let out a sigh. Even though he was still angry at Lucas for upsetting Brooke, he could now tell that his brother didn't intentionally mean to harm her and could understand why Lucas was aggravated and disturbed by not knowing what had happened while he had been gone. However, he couldn't really help Lucas out, as he intended to keep his promise to Brooke.
"Just give Brooke some space. She's dealing with some stuff right now…" Nathan advised as much as he could without betraying his promise to Brooke.
"What kind of stuff? What's going on, Nate?" Lucas pleadingly asked Nathan, the confusion and concern in his eyes making it truly difficult for Nathan to refrain from sharing with him what he knew.
"She's been through a lot… When she'll be ready, she'll tell you. Don't pressure her, Luke" Nathan warningly guided Lucas, wanting to help his brother yet protect his fragile friend at the same time.
"God, I wish I would have never left!" Lucas angrily mumbled to himself, discouraged that even his brother wasn't willing to help him solve the mystery of what had happened while he had been absent.
"What was up with that anyway?" Nathan genuinely wanted to know. Things would have been completely different if Lucas would have been there for Brooke from the start, like he and Haley had been, that Nathan truly wanted to know if there was at least a good reason for Lucas' absence from Tree Hill.
"I made a mistake" Lucas admitted. As Nathan nodded understandingly and then shifted his eyes back to Jamie, who was helping the waitress add whipped cream to his milkshake, Lucas couldn't help but realize just how big of a mistake it had been. Knowing that the way he had handled the situation since he had returned had been just as wrong, Lucas guiltily added, "And another one earlier today…"
"You can say that again…" Nathan agreed with him. Even though he did feel bad for his brother, now that he understood that he only tried to care for Brooke, he was still slightly angry about the state he had put Brooke in.
"Do you think that I should come over and apologize?" Lucas looked over at his younger brother and asked, desperate for advice.
"Are you kidding me?" Nathan replied, slightly amazed by Lucas' proposal to return to their house after what his current visit had done to Brooke. When he observed Lucas sighing with discouragement in response, Nathan softened his tone and his scowl and supportively said, "Just give it some time, Luke… Maybe in a few days, if she's better…" he suggested. It was truly becoming a task for him to balance his compassion for his brother with the concern and care he felt for the girl who was like a sister to him.
"I guess you're right…" Lucas agreed and then slightly chuckled, "Seven years ago, who would have thought that I'd be getting lectured by you about how much of an ass I am…" he explained to Nathan the reason for his amusement and managed to put a grin on the dark-haired man's face, as he also realized how much their roles have been switched in those few years.
"Seven years ago, who would have thought that Rachel, my son, Brooke, Haley and I would be living under the same roof?" Nathan countered with a raised eyebrow, causing Lucas to laugh whole-heartedly.
"Definitely not me…" Lucas declared, giving Nathan a grateful smile. He truly appreciated the fact that Nathan was being such a good brother to him and, even though it saddened him that he couldn't be there for Brooke himself, was glad that at least Nathan was looking after her properly.
Nathan gave Lucas a reassuring nod, signaling that despite the events of the night and despite how furious he had been at him, he still had his back.
Their attention was soon averted back to Jamie, who returned to the table with the waitress, who was carrying three huge milkshakes covered with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
"Aren't these the biggest milkshakes you've ever seen, uncle Lucas?" Jamie excitedly asked, hopping onto the seat next to Lucas with happy, glimmering eyes.
"Actually, I think that they are…" Lucas honestly answered, looking at his nephew with amusement. As he observed Jamie's wide smile, he was truly amazed of how little it had taken to turn Jamie from the sad child he had seen at Brooke's doorstep and into this ecstatic, joyful boy he was looking at. As he took a sip of his sugary drink and continued watching the content child beside him, Lucas just wished that he could find such a simple magic medicine for Brooke, which would take all her sorrows away as well…
AN: Alright... I hope that you liked the two different approaches towards Lucas- with Nathan feeling bad for him and Haley and Rachel promising to never forgive him. His presence will obviously create a lot of tension up ahead, as well as more extremely dramatic events I have planned... ;-)
Now, as I promised, I'd like to tell you how much I appreciate your encouraging words. Thanks to- bella, brucasever, TaraFish, BRUCAS EQUALS LOVE, mesia, Brittany, SV, cocochanelgirl, whiters, Katie, Long Live Brucas and troypay-zashley-4ever for reviewing my latest chapter! Your reviews were truly awesome!
Special thank-you's (you guys didn't think I'd forget you, did you? ;-)) to- brucas3, IamCaroline, caitlives, flipflopgal, DANI, princessakarlita411, xCailinNollaigx, plasticlittlespastic, naley4ever323, Brucasfan23, cRaZyGuRl093, Anna-xx-Banana, NYJOEY, Jill Cohen, evergloweyes, miralinda and brookenlucas4eva03 for reviewing every time and giving me constant support for this story! My heart seriously breaks that I didn't find the time to write to you this week, because you are amazing! Love you all! ;-)
Last but not least, there are a few people to whom I seriously couldn't help myself but write a few words-
BrookeLucasForever- Thanks so much sweetie! I was really touched that you decided to open an account just so you could review! It was a huge compliment and I was extremely glad to hear that you're enjoying this chapter so much!
Shana- hun, you should seriously learn from BrookeLucasForever and get an account of your own, so I could thank you properly every time! lol... Seriously though, you are seriously amazing for following my writing since 'Trapped' and always writing the longest and best reviews in the world! ;-) There are so many times in which I just wish I could respond to what you write and tell you how much alike we think, because you manage to predict what will happen in my story so many times! Anyway, I'm taking this chance to thank you for everything! You're truly awesome!
journey4eva- You are the most dedicated reviewer I have, hun! I seriously can't believe that you've been reviewing everything I've written in this site from the very first chapter of 'Trapped'. I will always be grateful for you for supporting me even in the very beginning, when I had no idea what I was doing... lol... Your opinion has come to matter a lot to me, so thanks for always continuing to respond to what I post! You're really great! ;-)
Todd (Toddntan)- Thanks for always making my day with the funniest reviews ever! I feel like I truly gained such a wonderful reader with this story, so thanks for always putting a smile on my face! You rock! ;-)
Tanya(Tanya2byour21)- You're been a really loyal reader too, so I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your reviews, ever since 'Trapped'. I'm really lucky to have you as a reader! ;-)
Izzie(Iz-Belle91)- I just want to apologize for always making you cry... lol... Seriously though, you're truly great! I love how you get into this story emotionally and always tell me what you thought! Thanks for everything, hun! ;-)
sophiannabella- Thanks so much for the amazing reviews! You are so invloved in this story that when I read your reviews, I seriously know that I can't stop writing! Thanks for giving me so much motivation to write!
This is seriously the longest AN I've ever written... lol... It's almost as long as the chapter itself... I just really wanted to tell you how much your support matters, and if I forgot anybody by accident, I am truly sorry (if I did and you'll tell me, I promise to make it up to you next time...). Love you all! ;-)