Hi everyone! So I had a really busy week, but now I finally managed to have time to update, so here is my new chapter! Hope you guys like it, and as always- I'd love to hear your thoughts about it! ;-)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the OTH characters.

Chapter 14

Lucas tensely stared at the sinister looking doctor who stood in front of him, keeping his eyes on the clipboard the doctor held to his chest, which was bearing the information he most wanted to know, yet most feared from at the same time. He didn't dare utter a word, afraid that breaking the eerie silence the filled the room might result in the breaking of his heart.

"I'm Dr. Goldstein", the doctor finally introduced himself, "I am the head of the team that operated on Brooke…"

"Is she going to be alright?", Lucas could no longer remain silent, and cut into Dr. Goldstein's speech.

"Well…", the doctor cleared his throat and glanced at his clipboard, causing Lucas' heart to beat even more quickly, "Brooke suffered some extensive injuries", Doctor Goldstein looked at Lucas with grave eyes as he slowly and clearly broke the news, "We had to stop an internal bleeding in her stomach, one of her ribs is fractured, her lungs have been internally harmed and she suffered a concussion", Dr. Goldstein cleared his throat again and buried his eyes in his clipboard once more, as Lucas' devastated and frightened gaze caused him to need to take a breath of air before he could break the additional news he had, which he could already see would crush the boy's heart. "Brooke has also…", the doctor began, and upon lifting his eyes from the clipboard and seeing the ocean that started to rise in Lucas' eyes as he learned there was more, stopped and took a deep breath. When he saw Keith put a supportive arm across Lucas' shoulders, Dr. Goldstein felt as though he could continue, "Brooke has also been attacked sexually", he finally revealed, and watched Lucas' face fall with horror.

"It's gonna be O.K.", Keith supported Lucas, who became weak in the knees and began to tremble.

"No… No…", Lucas whispered, still refusing to believe that what he had heard his father do to the girl he loved was actually true. Lucas shook, angry and broken, and felt tears starting to roll out of his eyes again.

"I'm sorry…", Dr. Goldstein genuinely expressed his sorrow for the terrible news he had just delivered.

"No!", Lucas now yelled, "This isn't true!", he shouted and then broke down again, sobbing like a little boy. Keith silently grabbed Lucas and hugged him tightly as he fell apart, finally allowing the awful truth to sink in. Haley and Nathan carefully came up to him as well, putting a supportive hand on Lucas' back as they shed tears of their own.

"I want to see her!", Lucas finally pulled away from everyone and stepped over to Dr. Goldstein. "When can I see her?", Lucas asked, still crying as hard as hell.

"Brooke is currently sedated…", Dr. Goldstein gently said, "We need to make sure she stays still for a few days so her stomach injury won't reopen and that she won't cause her fractured rib to break", he explained.

"I don't care, I need to see her", Lucas choked out, "I won't move her, I swear".

Dr. Goldstein looked at Lucas' upset face, thinking carefully. Normally he couldn't let anyone but immediate family into the intensive care unit Brooke had just been moved to right after her surgery, but seeing that none of Brooke's immediate family had come and how deeply close Lucas seemed to be to her, Dr. Goldstein decided to make an exception.

"Alright…", Dr. Goldstein finally nodded, "Follow me", he instructed Lucas, who seemed to be revived by the knowledge that he would be able to see Brooke. He sniffled as he bit his quivering lip and wiped away his tears. Lucas followed Dr. Goldstein into the intensive care unit, and was stricken with shock as he saw the patients that occupied the hospital beds that were transported through the hallways by medical staff and the doctors that ran after them, loudly and tensely giving instructions in medical terms he wasn't familiar with. The poor condition that the patients were in sent chills down Lucas' spine, as he realized that his pretty girl was one of the pale, disconnected and injured patients that were rushed past him.

Dr. Goldstein noticed the frightened look on Lucas' pale face as they slowed down and stopped at the entrance of Brooke's room, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. He realized he had to prepare him for what he was about to see.

"Listen… When you go in there, Brooke is going to be connected to a lot of machines that might look frightening, but they're actually helping her out", Dr. Goldstein warned and Lucas nodded understandingly as he wiped away a sole tear that escaped from his eyes. "She won't be able to respond to anything you say or do due to the sedatives we've given her… You have to understand that she will be very still and pale, O.K.?", Dr. Goldstein eyed Lucas, trying to estimate the impact that his softened-up explanation of Brooke's state had on him. Lucas swallowed the lump that seemed to be forming in his throat and nodded.

"O.K., now remember- no moving her, alright?", Dr. Goldstein made sure that Lucas understood the importance of that instruction before opening the door to Brooke's room and gently guiding Lucas inside.

Lucas hesitantly stepped into the room and stared in shock at the still girl that lay in the hospital bed before him, paling at the sight. This was not the cheery, vibrant Brooke he knew and loved. This Brooke was a porcelain version of sleeping beauty, whose perfect face and body were stained by colorful marks that Dan had drawn on her with his fists. As the doctor had promised, she was connected to many machines and tubes, which Lucas could see were providing her oxygen, blood transfusion, liquids and medicine, and closely monitoring her heart rate and pulse, beeping regularly as an indication that Brooke's condition was stable. Yet Lucas was unable to find relief and comfort in that. All he could see was how bruised and hurt Brooke was, how stiff and uncalm her body seemed to be, how she almost unnoticeably flinched in pain every now and then despite the sedatives and pain medication he knew she was receiving, and it just broke his heart.

"God…", Lucas muttered to himself in a half shaky-half angry voice as he walked up to Brooke and took a seat next to her bed. He studied Brooke's face, truly seeing it without any distractions for the first time in more than two days, his eyes pausing on every cut, on every bruise and on every black-and-blue mark, imagining the violent incident from which Brooke received it. The mark on Brooke's cheekbone must have been caused by Dan's fist colliding with it, the one right under it was probably created by his knuckles, and the dressed cut he knew was hiding under the bandage on her forehead could have been made when Dan shoved her onto something. Lucas continued looking at Brooke's bruises, allowing them to tell his imagination the story behind their creation, as Brooke's mouth and eyes couldn't perform that task at that moment. He just silently remained in his place, so occupied with his study of Brooke's face that he didn't even notice Dr. Goldstein coming from behind him and putting his hand on his shoulder.

"You can hold her hand if you'd like to", Dr. Goldstein told Lucas, realizing how worried about Brooke's condition Lucas was and wanting to prove to him that he had faith that Brooke was strong enough to pull through.

"I don't want to hurt her…", Lucas objected, only from the pure fear that if he would touch her, Brooke would break. There was nothing he wanted more than to touch Brooke and finally reassure himself that she was truly next to him, where he could effectively protect her, but she looked so fragile that he was afraid to take the risk.

"Here", Dr. Goldstein smiled kindly at Lucas as he gently took Brooke's pale, cold hand in his and carefully placed it in Lucas' palm. He could understand why Lucas was reluctant to do anything after his warnings and after taking a good look at Brooke, but knew that the small gesture would do no harm to Brooke and would probably cheer Lucas up a little.

Lucas could feel his heart beating hard with excitement as Brooke's small hand was set in his large, masculine one. He carefully closed his fingers around Brooke's frail hand, tightly enough to keep her hand settled stably in his, yet gently enough to remain from squeezing it. Lucas lifted his eyes from Brooke's hand to her pale face, and even though he could still see it slightly twitch in pain every once in a while, she suddenly seemed calmer to him, as though she knew he was there and felt a bit safer.

"Hi baby…", Lucas whispered to Brooke and carefully rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. Encouraged by the feeling that Brooke might be able to sense his presence, he was determined to communicate with her, even if she couldn't respond.

As Lucas continued to whisper soothing words to Brooke, Dr. Goldstein added more medication to one of the tubes that was connected to Brooke's veins and smiled at the sight of the young boy's love towards the girl he had just managed to save. He knew Brooke had a long road to recovery, but having a supportive person such as Lucas seemed to be, at her side, was something Dr. Goldstein always considered as extremely helpful.

Dr. Goldstein turned his attention towards the machines that monitored Brooke's condition. He wrote the numbers that appeared on them in his clipboard and glanced at Brooke's face, which, with the help of the medication he had just given her, now seemed tense-free. Satisfied, Dr. Goldstein turned to face Lucas.

"I need to go and check on other patients now, but you can stay here with Brooke. A nurse should come in every thirty minutes to make sure everything is alright and I will stop by later tonight to check on Brooke, but if anything seems to change about her condition, you can press the emergency button that's over the headboard and someone will immediately come, alright?"

"Alright…", Lucas replied after attentively listening to Dr. Goldstein's explanation, and then added, "Thank you for everything, Doctor", Lucas said, the emotion in his blue eyes making it clear for Dr. Goldstein how deep the gratitude Lucas had just expressed truly was. Dr. Goldstein smiled his kind smile and put his hand on Lucas' shoulder.

"You're welcome… But now you're going to have to help me take care of Brooke. Alright?", Dr. Goldstein said.

"Of course I will", Lucas immediately replied, "I'll do whatever it takes to help her get better…"

The first rays of sun lit up Brooke's room and flashed right onto Lucas' closed eyes. Lucas squeezed his closed eyes, trying to escape the light, but it was so bright that it managed to blind him even though his eyes were shut. Lucas finally gave up and opened his eyes, which were blood-shot due to the little amount of sleep he allowed himself to have during the night. After getting Brooke back, he couldn't afford to rest, as he felt he had to watch over her and make sure nothing happened to her at night. The night-shift nurse, who was surprised by Lucas' presence when she came to check up on Brooke for the first time, and guilt-stricken when she woke Lucas up for the second time in a row just as he was dozing off, had soon grown accustomed to him waking up every time she came in, and making sure that Brooke was indeed alright. Despite her repeated pleas that he would stay asleep and promise to wake him up if anything changed, Lucas insisted on monitoring Brooke together with the nurse until 3:30 A.M., when he had finally been defeated by the exhaustion that he had accumulated during the past few days. He slept soundly for these few hours, and even though they were nowhere near enough to make up for his lack of sleep, the feeling of Brooke's hand in his managed to wake Lucas up completely.

Lucas looked at Brooke's face and smiled as he saw how the sun made her brown hair, which was messily sprawled on her pillow around her head, glow like an aura. She looked like an angel to him, so much that he had to slightly tighten his grip on her hand to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming. As he did so, he saw Brooke's face slightly flinch in pain, just as it did when he first saw her, and could immediately tell that the nurse would probably come in with another dose of Brooke's medication any minute. The same thing had happened in the middle of the night, when just as Brooke began to make signs of regaining consciousness, Dr. Goldstein came in for his last check-up of the night and sedated her again. Lucas knew that it was for Brooke's own good, but couldn't help but feel his heart break as he once again saw her drift farther away from him. This time, Lucas was determined to take advantage of the little time he had until Brooke would lie motionlessly again, and make no signs of communication with him, as he knew that the more her medication wore off, the higher the chance was that she could hear him.

Brooke flinched again, and Lucas brought the hand which he had held all night, to his lips and gently kissed it.

"Good morning, pretty girl", Lucas said to her, kissing her hand two more times and then carefully setting it back on the bed in his secure grasp. He looked up at Brooke's face, slightly smiling at the sight of her angelic features, when he saw her try to move her head a bit. At that moment, Lucas was certain that Brooke knew he was there, and was fighting her medications and pain to try and come back to him. Although there was nothing he wanted more than to see her beautiful eyes open and shine their hazel warmth at him, he knew he couldn't let her push it. He leaned to kiss her hand again and then carefully stroked it with his thumb.

"Hey, calm down, baby", Lucas said to her soothingly and when he saw her flinch again, continued, "Brooke, you've gotta rest now and let your body heal, O.K.?", he gently told her. He smiled when he saw her eyelashes flutter just the slightest bit, realizing that Brooke's stubborn, feisty fire was still there. "Baby, I know you want to wake up and be with me, but I'm not going anywhere, alright? So you have to relax and rest now, so in a few days you can wake up and be all better, and I promise not to leave your side", Lucas tried to calm Brooke down. He was just about to push the emergency button, so the nurse would give Brooke the medicine which will help her relax, when he felt Brooke's little fingers slightly close around his hand. It wasn't a strong grip, but it was definitely there, and Lucas was so caught up in that moment that he couldn't move and couldn't do a thing except look at the girl he loved so much and feel his heart warming as it was refilled with belief that everything would be alright in the end.

Lucas continued staring at Brooke and stroking her hand back and forth, and let the tears that filled his eyes silently roll down his cheeks. Brooke might be hurt, damaged and scarred, but she was there, and even in the fragile state she was in, she managed to make sure he knew it.

"I love you, babe", Lucas finally managed to say, and thought he saw Brooke's features ease some of their stress afterwards.

Brooke's hand was still planted in Lucas' hand in their mutual gentle grip when the nurse finally came and sedated Brooke once more. Lucas watched as the tension in her muscles eased and felt his heart twitch as he felt her soft grip on his hand loosen more and more, until it became non-existent. With his free hand, he quickly wiped away the sole tear that had just escaped his eyes and the evidence of the ones he had shed before, and let out a shaky breath he didn't even realize he was holding. The emotion that seemed to flood him stopped its course up his throat when he looked at Brooke's face again. She looked so worriless and peaceful that Lucas immediately felt his emotionality fade, and as he continued staring at her, he even thought he saw a hint of a smile on her lips. Lucas smiled back and leaned down to kiss her hand, truly believing that together, they would be able to get through this and then everything would be alright again.

AN: I'd like to dedicate the ending of this chapter to everyone who thought I was mean with my cliffhanger endings... lol... I will probably have more of those, so this one's for you! I know this chapter was slightly slower than usual, but the drama is not over yet! If it was unclear last time, Dan was shot, but not dead at all, so expect him to be back sometime in the future... But this is all until next time! ;-)