Does everyone still remember this? I want to apologize a thousand times over for the extremely long delay in posting. I won't even try to make up excuses, because none of them are good enough. I really hope that you all still are interested, and I hope this chapter is worth the wait. We're in the home stretch now, can you feel it? Please let me know if you like it, or if your still interested, I promise the reviews make me update faster…lol

I have to say a special thanks to Cath and Amanda, I love you both. And the song title is from Jason Aldeen, and its called Why.

Now, I think you've waited long enough, on with the chapter….

Chapter 20- Why?

Does it always have to come down
To you leaving
Before I'll say "I love you"
Why do I always use the words
That cut the deepest
When I know how much it hurts you
Oh baby why, do I do that to you

Brooke stood in her room throwing random things into a large suitcase on her bed. Haley sat right next to it, taking things out, attempting to help, when all she was really doing was trying to unpack the things Brooke was putting in.

Haley didn't understand why Brooke had to give up now, why she had to leave now.

"Brooke I don't want you to go," Haley whined as she got up from the bed and wrapped her arms around Brooke from behind, placing her head on the brunette's shoulder. "You have to stay here."

"Haley you know I can't, they're my parents, and they want me to fly out there. I can't tell them no." Brooke replied, trying to keep her voice from breaking. It had been a horrible two days, and when her parents called summoning her to California, she didn't have anymore energy to fight them with. She knew it was cowardly, but she didn't know if she could face Lucas right now knowing that she was so in love with him, while he had no feelings for her.

"Yes you can, you just won't," Haley pouted as she sat back down on the bed and removed more items from the suitcase.

"Haley, I don't want to do this with you, not again." Brooke cried, she had been over this with Haley a thousand times since she had returned from the hospital , and she didn't think she could relive the pain once again.

"He's just being stubborn. He loves you, I know it and you know it." Haley tried to reason, she knew that Lucas loved Brooke, and she knew he was just scared and lashing out. She just wished that they would both realize that. But no, Lucas was being stubborn, and Brooke was leaving.

"No he doesn't Haley, he said the words himself, and I don't think I'll ever forget how much they hurt." When he told her he didn't love her, that he couldn't be with her, she thought it was all a sick joke. Then she looked into his eyes, and saw that they didn't hold anything for her, and that she couldn't read them like usual. It was only then that she realized he was serious, and that whatever she thought they had was over.

"Brooke he's scared," Haley tried to reason.

"No, he just doesn't want me, but that's fine, its not like we were even in a real relationship," Brooke tried to play off as if they were just casual acquaintances.

"Please, whatever you two are to each other, you're closer than most actual couples I know. Just cause the title isn't there doesn't mean the feelings aren't."

"Haley don't you think I know that, don't you think this is killing me inside." Brooke came and sat down next to Haley on the bed, leaning her head against the other girl's shoulder. "There is nothing I can do though, I gave him my heart and he just handed it right back to me."

Haley tightened her grip on Brooke, knowing that her friend's heart was breaking in two. "But…"

"No, no buts. I have to go to California whether you like it or not, so please quit unpacking my stuff and making it harder than it already is." Brooke screamed more forcefully than she intended, pulling away from Haley, and hastily throwing the pile Haley had unpacked back into the suitcase. Neither girl spoke, and Brooke walked back over to the closet, finding more things she needed to take with her.

"I'm just going to miss you." Haley softly said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

The two girls both had to hold back tears as they met in a tight embrace in the middles if Brook's bedroom. They hadn't been friends for that long, but in the time that they had spent together, they had almost become like family.

"Haley, Its not like I'm going to be gone forever, It's just for a little while." Brooke whispered softly in Haley's ear as she hugged her tighter.

"It's sill too long."

"But, its what I need, please try and understand that." Brooke said as she reluctantly pulled away.

"I am, but Brooke, I don't think leaving is the right answer, I think you have to fight for him." Haley knew it wasn't going to help, but she still had to try anyway.

"I don't think I have anymore fight left in me," Brooke sighed. "If he doesn't love me, then there is nothing I can do to change that."

"But what if he told you he did, that he made a mistake."

"I don't know, but I do know he's not going to change his mind. Lucas and I are over for good this time, and I can't do anything to change that as much as I would like to." Nothing was ever as easy as an 'I'm sorry, I made a mistake' with them. Maybe it was time they both realized that.

"It's going to be okay Brooke, it may not look like it now, but it will be, you'll see," Haley said quietly as she relented and began helping Brooke fold and put some of her things in the suitcase.

Brooke smiled slightly at this, even though Haley didn't want her to leave, she wasn't going to force her to stay, and she was grateful for the fact that at least one person wanted her to stay. Too bad it wasn't the right one.

I know I'd never let you walk away
So why do I push you 'til you break
And why are you always on the verge of good-bye
Before I'll show you how I really feel inside

-------------------------------

The image of Brooke walking out of the hospital was going to be one that Lucas would never forget. He couldn't believe that he had let his foolish pride get in the way of their relationship again. He thought that she was going to come back in, he waited for her to tell him not to let go, but she hadn't, and he really couldn't blame her one bit.

She had been the one to stand by him and support him the most, and he had let her down. It had nearly killed him to lie to her about his feelings, to throw her leaving up in her face, but he had done it to save both his and her hearts. He shook his head regretfully, a lot of good that one did.

He shifted against the pillows in his room as he attempted to get comfortable. He had been evaluated by the doctor again, given some trial medication, and released. He and his mother had arrived home earlier in the day, and now he was under strict orders to rest. Rest however: didn't come so easily. Every time he shut his eyes, he saw her face, and the cruel words he told her echoed in his mind. Part of him wanted to slip out the door, ignore the orders of his mother and the doctor and go to her. The other part wanted to stay locked in the room, avoiding the rest of the world at all costs. The two voices were warring inside his head and the only thing that they could both agree on is that all of him was very much in love with the girl he pushed away.

So instead of making any action to right everything between he and Brooke, he sat staring at the red door he had painted for her so many months ago, hoping that something would make sense.

"You are the biggest jackass in the world, do you know that?"

Lucas knew who it was before the figure came fully into the doorway, and he chuckled a little at his brother's greeting.

"Shut up, Nate."

"Seriously man, what the hell did you do?"

Lucas sighed. Obviously Nathan had been around Haley and Brooke, and knew exactly what had happened.

"How much does she hate me?"

"She doesn't hate you at all. She's just hurt and very much in love with you, although I have no idea why after what you did." Nathan said as he sat down next to Lucas on the bed. He had been there, he had done the stubborn Scott thing, and now it was his turn to try and knock some sense into Lucas.

"Like you have any room to talk, you pushed Haley away." Lucas spat bitterly, not really thrilled with the idea of someone else telling him how much of an idiot he was.

"Yeah, but I realized what a dumbass I was being and let her back in."

"Well, Brooke and I aren't you and Haley, its complicated," Lucas sighed.

"Because your heart isn't perfect?" Nathan inquired softly after a moment of silence.

"How did you….."

"I talked to your mom. Look Luke, I know that this heart stuff scares you, but you can't push everyone away." Nathan said as he tried to hide the fact that he was finding out important things about Lucas from other people and not Lucas himself.

"I'm not."

"Bullshit," Nathan said lightheartedly. "You didn't even tell me or Haley, your brother and your best friend, that you were even having surgery. If that's not pushing people away, then telling the girl you've been brooding over for months that you don't care about her certainly is."

"I don't want to hurt her or get hurt." Lucas knew that Nathan was going to call him on that even before he finished speaking.

"Well you did a great job at that. You're miserable and she's leaving town- again."

"What?" Lucas yelled, nearly knocking Nathan to the floor. Brooke leaving? He couldn't have heard that correctly.

"Oh shit, I wasn't supposed to tell you that," Nathan grumbled before telling Lucas everything he knew. "Her parents called and wanted her to come back to California. She leaves today, and if I were you, I would get over whatever crap you are holding onto and tell her how you feel."

"I'm scared," Lucas quietly admitted after a moment's hesitation. "What if she still leaves? What if I tell her that my heart isn't perfect and she doesn't want me?" That was his biggest fear, that he would tell her he loved her but he wasn't completely healthy, and then she would leave him. He didn't know if he was strong enough to watch her walk out the door again and hop in a cab, leaving him behind. Although, he had almost forced her to do just that by telling her that he had no feelings for her.

"Man, if you really think that, then you don't know Brooke at all." Nathan and Brooke never had been Lucas and Haley, but being friends since diapers, he knew that Brooke would never walk away from someone she loved. "So do us all a favor and fix this. Haley has been moping around since the second Brooke announced she had to go."

"Nate, how did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Let Haley back in?"

"Dude, if you ever repeat this I will kill you because I am about to sound like such a girl. I just realized that Haley was my future, and that any moments I could have with her were so much better than a lifetime without her. Sometimes you have to just get over the fear that something is going to happen, and live in the moment. Because if you let her get on that plane again without knowing how you feel, I don't think you are ever going to get her back.

"Tell her that you love her Luke, you won't be happy until you do."

"Thanks Nate, or should I start calling you Doctor Phil." Lucas smiled as Nathan playfully pushed him.

"Shut the hell up. Your just lucky that I was the one that came to talk to you and not Haley, I really think you would have lost a limb if she came over here."

"I really screwed up didn't I?" Lucas said with a sigh. He had done this to himself, but Nathan made a lot of sense.

"It happens to the best if us. Just fix it. You know you are going to brood until you're with Brooke." Nathan got up, bumped fists with Luke and started walking to the door, he had done what he came to do, and hopefully Lucas would take his advice and put his heart on the line again for both his and Brooke's sake.

"Nate?" Lucas called as his brother reached the door. "What time is she leaving."

"I don't know, but she was packing when I left, so you better make up your mind and do it fast." With those last words, he was gone, leaving Lucas to make the decision for himself.

Lucas just sat there in shock for a couple minutes, mulling over the decision in his mind. Either he could let her go, take the easy way out, and lose her, or he could fight, take the hard way and take the risk by giving her his heart. In the end, the decision was an easy one, and Lucas knew exactly what he had to do.

Does it always have to come down
To you leaving
Before I'll say "I love you"

----------

"Brooke, why is it when you leave, I have to carry loads of heavy suitcases?" Peyton laughed as she flung Brooke's heavier suitcase into the back of her car.

"Because you love me?" the brunette slightly smiled as she teased Peyton. "Plus, Haley won't let me leave her side and I can't help," she laughed. Haley was standing behind Brooke, head on her shoulders, arms wrapped around her waist, holding her back.

"Nathan," Brooke screamed when she saw him pull up to the apartment. "Take your wife and make her let me go."

"I don't wanna," Haley wined into Brooke's shoulder.

Nathan laughed, gently tugged his wife away from her best friend. "Where have you been?" she asked.

"I had an errand to run," he said casually, but she took one look at him and knew he had been to see Lucas, and since there was only one Scott coming to tell Brooke good-bye, she assumed it didn't go well.

Brooke sighed as she looked to her three friends, painfully aware that one critical member of their group was missing.

"Guys, quit looking at me like that. It's not forever, I promise," Brooke said as she looked at Haley who was about to cry, Peyton who was trying to be strong, and even Nathan, who was pretending that nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.

"Well B. Davis, as much as I don't want you to go, we have to leave if you want to make your flight. Not even you can charm the plane into waiting," Peyton smiled as she threw her arm around Brooke's shoulder and led her to the car.

Brooke held the tears back as she climbed into the car. "Bye guys, don't miss me too much," she tried to sing-song in her cheery voice, but it failed her.

Haley clung to Nathan as she watched Peyton black convertible pull away. "I'm going to kill him the next time I see him."

"He's just scared Haley, but I really thought he would be here." Nathan said as they walked back into the house.

"So did I Nathan, so did I."

Haley and Nathan had been inside the apartment nearly ten minutes when they heard a loud banging on the door. Haley got up and walked over, opening it, nearly dropping her jaw to the ground when she saw who was standing on the other side with a bouquet of flowers that were obviously from a yard or garden.

"Lucas!"

"Haley, where is she, I have to talk to Brooke. I know she's mad, I know you are too, but I need to see her," he said, not noticing as the smile on Haley's face fell.

"You can't," she whispered.

"Look, I know I messed up, but please let me at least apologize to her, tell her that I…"

"She's gone."

"What?" he practically cried. He couldn't be too late, it couldn't be over, not when he finally realized that he couldn't let his pride or his fear get in the way, right when he realized that being with her was worth the risk.

"She left with Peyton for the airport about fifteen minutes ago. You're too late. I'm so sorry."

Lucas just stood there in shock for a moment before, turning around without saying a word and heading down the stairs.

"Luke, where are you going?"

"To get my girl, and bring her back," He said as he practically ran to his car, hoping to catch her before she left, and hoping even more that she would listen to him when he told her he couldn't live without her anymore.

Does it always have to come down
To you leaving
Before I'll say "I love you"