"Peyton!" Brooke screamed, sprinting up to the house. Her vision went slightly red just seeing Lucas kneeling over Peyton as she passed out. The brunette shook with anger. "What did you do her??" She demanded. "What the hell did you do?" Lucas' hands came up slightly like a robber who had just been caught by the cops.
"I… I didn't-"
"Get out of the way, novel boy. Brooke said impatiently, pushing past Lucas. She knelt down inside the house, Peyton separating the two of them, and lifted the blonde up, holding her against her. "Peyton? Peyton, can you hear me? Peyt-" Brooke laid Peyton back on the ground, leaning over her, and hovered her ear over the blonde's lips. No breath tickled her skin. "Make yourself useful and call 911." Brooke barked. She couldn't derive where her sudden hatred towards Lucas was coming from as he called for an ambulance. And it made even less sense to her why she was blaming him for this at all… But she was, and she couldn't shut off her anger. She knew Lucas loved Peyton, and on that thought, cringed, and pulled the blonde back into her lap again. Brooke turned Peyton's face up, placing their lips together and blowing. The blonde remained unresponsive save for Brooke's breath filling her lungs and causing her chest to rise lifelessly. "Come on, baby, breathe." Brooke pleaded, sealing their lips together again. The second attempt was in vain as well. "God…" Brooke felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she tried to hold them back.
"She's gonna be okay, Brooke." Lucas promised, as if he knew. But in truth he was just as scared as Brooke was, maybe even a little more shocked. He replayed what Peyton had said to him before she passed out.
I'm pregnant… We're pregnant.
* * *
Brooke and Lucas sat in silence in the waiting room of the hospital, each as anxious as the other. Lucas sat with his head in his hands, his elbows on his lap, simultaneously raw and numb from everything that had just transpired. Maybe this was a dream. After all, the writer was prone to odd dreams ranging from waking up in the same bed as Chris Keller to going back to the 40s with everyone he knew in Tree Hill… In that case this was obviously just another one of those. He'd wake up in a few minutes.
Lucas glanced over at Brooke. Nope. Definitely not a dream. Dream Brooke would never hold a face like that. That was a face full of pain and anger and genuine fear. There was nothing dream-like about that face, no matter how beautiful one had to admit it was. Lucas' heart sank deep into his stomach.
"Brooke Davis? Lucas Scott?" A doctor called into the room as they walked smoothly into it. "Peyton is awake and stable." He said once Lucas and Brooke had stood and approached him. "You can see her now." The two followed the doctor into the room.
Upon hearing her visitors come in Peyton opened her eyes, turning her head towards the door. She saw Brooke first and smiled, and upon seeing Lucas fast behind the brunette her smile dropped, replaced with panic.
"Hey." She said indirectly, trying to hide her fear. Brooke reached out, taking Peyton's hand in her own.
"Hey, you." She said. "How do you feel?" Peyton thought for a moment, trying to focus on every part of her body to search for injury or the curious tingle of morphine, but found nothing. She smiled again weakly, just feeling sleepy.
"I'm fine." She said, and then the panic came back when she remembered that Lucas was in the room… That he obviously had come with Brooke. "What happened to me?" She asked. Brooke blinked slowly, remembering what she had seen more than what the doctors had said.
"You passed out." Brooke said honestly.
"They said it was from stress." Lucas added, wondering why he hadn't passed out yet if this were the real reason.
"From the baby?" Peyton asked, almost mystified. Both Lucas and Brooke flinched at the mention of the child, but the reaction was relatively subtle. Brooke took in a deep breath and nodded.
"Yeah. But they said you'll be fine and that it's not uncommon." Peyton nodded, looking down into her lap for a brief moment. It was awkward being in a room with the two of them, especially since she didn't have the option of just up and leaving. But what was worse was the fact that she kinda wanted to up in leave, or that the situation was awkward in the first place. These were her friends after all. But speaking of leaving"
"When can I go home?" She asked suddenly.
"They wanted to keep you overnight, but I can take you home in the morning." Lucas heard the possessiveness of the word 'I' in Brooke's words, but tried to think nothing of it.
* * *
"Nathan, have you heard anything from Brooke lately?" Haley called from the kitchen into the living room. She returned to making dinner, waiting for her husband's answer.
"No." He called back. "It's like she disappeared again." And he wasn't far off. The two hadn't heard anything from the young seamstress in quite some time. It was pre-Leyton Wedding all over again.
"Who disappeared?" Jamie asked, walking into the kitchen. Haley turned to him, putting her knife down.
"No one, sweetheart. I just haven't heard from Brooke in a while." Jamie climbed into one of the barstools, sitting at the breakfast bar. He swiveled around in circles.
"Why don't you just call her then?" He asked, looking up at his mom. "She has a cell phone ya know. I think two." Haley smiled, stepping away from the counter and stove to ruffle her son's hair. "Or I could call her since you're busy. Can I, Momma?" Reaching behind her son and grabbing the phone, Haley stuck her hand out.
"Sure. Here' bud." Jamie took the phone excitedly.
"What's the number?" Jamie asked, turning the phone on.
"616." Haley started slowly. Jamie dialed the numbers, repeating after his mother.
"616…"
"77," Haley continued.
"77…"
"92." Jamie put the phone to his ear, waiting for Brooke to pick up. Haley waited too, sure this would be entertaining. Then she heard a voice on the other end, a definite 'hello?'
"Hey Brooke!" Jamie greeted. Haley heard a warm tone answer her son. "Yeah, I was just calling because Momma wanted to make sure that you weren't dead. I- Uh huh… Yeah. Wait, where?" Jamie paused, listening intently. "REALLY? …Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll tell her." He turned to Haley. "Broke says she's okay and that she's sorry for not calling. Right now she's at the hospital with Peyton and Uncle Lucas." Haley nodded, about to smile, when her eyes popped wide open.
"WHAT?!?!?!" She yelled, standing up straight. "Jamie, give Momma the phone please." Jamie turned back to the phone.
"I gotta go now. Momma's upset." He handed Haley the phone and slipped off the stool, running into the living room to join Nathan on the couch.
"You're at the hospital??? What's going on, Brooke?" On the other end Brooke almost smiled, glad Haley's motherly worry was in reality for nothing.
"Everything's fine, Haley." She said, referring to everything but herself. She glanced into Peyton's eyes. "Peyton blacked out."
"She… Oh my god is she okay? When did this happen? Is she-"
"Passed out. Yes. Earlier today. She's fine now she's just…" The brunette hesitated, questioning Peyton only with her eyes. The blonde nodded, smiling gently, a go ahead. "She's pregnant." Brooke said, trying not to say it through her teeth. Then her eyebrows drew together, her jaw relaxing. "Haley? Haley, are you there? Did you cut out-"
"Yeah, I'm here." Haley answered, so much emotion welling up in her chest she thought it would burst at any given point. She grinned hugely. "You said pregnant, right? As in, there's a baby growing inside her right now?" Brooke nodded, glancing at Peyton now out of the corner of her eye. She sighed.
"Yep. Goldilocks is preggers." She said.
"It's Lucas'…" Haley started. It wasn't even a question, just a statement glazed with mystification and a little understanding… Then a lot of understanding. "Brooke, I'm sorr-"
"Don't, Haley, really." Brooke insisted, stepping outside of the room. She couldn't look at Peyton anymore, and couldn't bear to have this conversation next to Lucas. The hallway was the next best option. "The doctors say she's safe to take home tomorrow. They just want to run a few tests and supervise her overnight. You know how hospitals are." Haley nodded this time, very much so grasping what Brooke was telling her.
"How far along is she?" She asked out of pure curiosity, running a hand through her hair and sticking a chicken in the oven.
"To be honest, I don't know." Brooke said, slightly embarrassed. "She just told me yesterday and I didn't think to ask…" Brooke leaned against the wall, closing her eyes.
"Are you going to be okay, Brooke? Cause you are more than welcome to talk to me if you want." At this, Brooke smiled, opening her eyes again.
"Thanks, Tutor Mom, really, but, I'm gonna have to pass. I don't really wanna talk about it anymore. At least not for a while." Haley hesitated at the rejection of her offer, but managed to push it into Brooke's hands from a different angle.
"Alright." She said. "But the offer doesn't expire in case you ever change your mind." Brooke's smile returned, grateful for her friend's compassion.
"Thanks." She said. "I'll talk to you later, then."
"Sure. Anytime."
"Bye." The two women said in unison, and the lines clicked.
Standing up straight again, Brooke wandered back into the room, pausing when she noticed Lucas was gone.
"Where'd Lucas go?" She asked Peyton. The blonde shrugged.
"Like hell if I know. I was gonna ask you whenever you came back in. Didn't he pass you in the hall?" Brooke shook her head.
"No. I never saw him." She said, suddenly interested in the terribly bland flooring of the room, pacing slowly over to Peyton's bed. "What happened, Peyt? I mean earlier today." Peyton looked Brooke in the face, though the brunette wasn't looking back at her, and thought for a moment. She shook her head.
"I don't know." She said honestly, searching furiously through the foggy memory. "I woke up this morning and you were gone- Where were you, by the way?" Brooke looked up, almost smiling.
"I asked you first, Sawyer." She said. "We can talk about it later, I promise." Peyton nodded, continuing.
"Well, he was at the front door and he wanted to talk to me about us… He wanted closure, to try and fix us. Lucas wanted to know why I left him."
"What did you say?" Brooke asked, finally reaching the bed and sitting on the edge of it.
"Oh well, I told him the truth." Peyton said. Brooke's eyes went a little wide, but only from surprise, not disapproval. Peyton went on. "He wanted to know then if it meant anything to me that I meant everything to him… That's about when the bomb went off in my stomach and everything went black." The blonde looked up at Brooke, trying to read into her. "How long was I out?" She asked.
"A few hours. It's about five right now."
"Five? Seriously?" Peyton didn't understand. Five o clock? In the afternoon?
"Are you hungry?" Brooke asked then. Peyton's shock dissolved for a moment.
"That was random. But no. Not at all." She gave Brooke a nauseas look.
"Yeah, you do look a little sick. Are you sure you feel okay?"
"Mmm hmm. I feel fine, actually. If I could I'd have to take me home right now… They're really keeping me overnight?" Brooke nodded at the question.
"But since they're keeping you they're keeping me, too." Peyton smiled warmly.
"Aw, Brooke, you don't have to do that." Brooke eyed Peyton, cocking an eyebrow.
"Do you really think I'm gonna leave you, Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, with Lucas Eugene Scott?" The brunette chuckled. "You must be preggers." She said. "You've got the baby crazies worse than Haley did."