Sorry for the looooong wait, guys. I've just been super busy but trust me I never forgot about the story. I'm trying to catch up and this isn't much
but it's something. Please forgive me. Sorry! Review pleasee!=]
Since that day when Hannah told Brooke what was finally going on Hannah barely left her room. She was afraid of what was out there. She
was afraid of what Owen may do to her if he'd seen her. Brooke had let everyone know and they were on the lookout for Owen. Hannah was
definitely in depressed mode and this worried Brooke. She let Hannah skip school while Jamie brought her schoolwork over everyday after
school. After her breakdown she refused to talk to anyone, even Brooke. Brooke stayed on the phone with lawyers almost all day everyday.
She was determined to win against Owen and if anything were to go wrong she'd have no choice but to have Hannah testify.
It was Friday afternoon and Hannah only got up to shower. Since it was the weekend Brooke was really hoping Hannah would have the
energy to actually get out the house and do something but she couldn't get anything out of her. While Brooke was in the kitchen making
their dinner Jamie walks in holding folders and books for Hannah.
"Hey, Jamie." Brooke greets her godson with a hug.
"Hey, Aunt Brooke. How's Hannah today?" asks Jamie sadly.
"She still hasn't moved. I'm really worried about her." Brooke says with sigh and walks back into the kitchen.
"Yeah. Me too."
"Jamie, I hope you know that none of this is your fault." Brooke assures him.
"Maybe. But I known for four years and I didn't tell you or my mom. I should have and maybe she wouldn't be like this."
"Jamie, as much as I would have loved for you to tell us, you were being a good cousin. You ARE a good cousin, okay? This isn't
your fault. Even if you told us then I can guarantee you that she would probably still be like this."
"I better go." Jamie says and walks to the door. " Tell her I said hey."
"I will." Brooke says smiling.
Jamie gives her a small smile back and walks out.
About an hour or so later Peyton, Maddie, Anna, and Keith walk into the house. Brooke smiles up at her daughter who is running towards her.
Brooke picks her up and kissed her on her cheek.
"How was school, angel?" Brooke asks.
"I had fun. Since Hannah isn't feeling good I made her a picture." Maddie says sadly.
"Ya know, I bet she would love it. You can give it to her at dinner."
"Okay!" Maddie yells as Brooke puts her down. She runs off and plays with Anna and Keith.
Peyton smiles as she watches Maddie, Anna, and Keith run upstairs.
"Hey, thanks for taking Maddie to school and back for me, Peyton." Brooke says.
"It's no problem. How you doing?" asks Peyton as she sits down at the island.
Brooke sits down next to her. "I've been on the phone with lawyers all day. If worse comes to worse Hannah may have to testify."
Peyton's face is suddenly expressed with shock. "You're serious?"
"Yeah. They said that's my best bet for winning full custody of Madison. I don't want to put her through that."
"Well, let's just hope it doesn't comes down to that."
"She still hasn't moved?" asks Peyton.
"Not since this morning." Brooke tells her. "She only moves to shower, eat, and guess what?"
"What?"
"She's scared to sleep alone again. She's been sneaking into my room whenever I get to bed and when I get up in the morning
she gets up and goes into her room for the rest of the day." Brooke explains.
"Poor thing. It's like she's five again."
"Yeah. And you know what? I missed it. I missed her being five and wanting to sleep with me every night. She needing me constantly."
"Brooke, she will always need you. Even if she doesn't tell you." Peyton assures her.
"I know."
"Well, I better get the munchkins home. Call me if you need me. I love you." Peyton says as she hugs Brooke.
"Thank, P. Scott."
Peyton calls her kids down and they leave.
While Brooke is finishing dinner Maddie is sitting at the counter coloring when Hannah makes a sudden appearance into the kitchen. Brooke stood
completely shocked but decided not to show it in front of Hannah.
"Hey, sweetie. How you feeling?" Hannah just shrugs and sits down at the counter while she poors herself some tea. "Jamie brought more
of your schoolwork over." Hannah still didn't say anything. Brooke walks over to Maddie and whispers into her ear. Maddie nods and jumps off her
chair and over to Hannah.
"Hannah, I made you this in school today. I know you're not feeling good so I thought this would make you happy." Maddie says as she hands Hannah
her the picture she made.
Hannah stares at the picture in front of her. It's of her, Maddie, and Brooke. For the first time since her news spread she smiled. She looked over at Maddie
and hugs her.
"I love it, Mads. Thanks."
"You're welcome." Maddie says smiling and running back over to Brooke who is smiling also.
Just seeing Hannah smile again melted Brooke's heart.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Brooke wasn't really expecting anything else since it had been this way since Hannah opened up. Hannah had returned
to her room leaving Brooke and Maddie alone in the rest of the house. Late that night Hannah couldn't sleep. She was tossing and turning most of the night
and couldn't get the memories out of her mind. So, she got up from her bed and walked out to the living room. The house was dark and quiet and kinda
gave Hannah chills a little. She turned on the living room lamp and sat down on the couch. She hadn't watched tv in a long time she thought, so she picked
up the remote and turned it on.
After an hour or so Hannah was still up. She tried laying down on the couch hoping to fall asleep but she had no luck. She sat up again and continued to
swtich channels. She started to realize why she hadn't missed it so much. There was nothing ever on.
Over in Brooke's room Brooke opened her eyes to find light peering from under the door. She first thought it was Madison going in for a midnight snack but
was surprised when she opened the door to find Hannah sitting on the couch watching tv. Brooke sighed and walked over to Hannah. She sat down next to her.
"Hey, what are you doing up so late?" She asked.
"I couldn't sleep." Hannah said without looking away from the tv.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Brooke asked concerned.
Hannah shook her head. "No. I couldn't sleep at all."
Brooke looked down and caught Hannah scratching around her cut on her arm. It was healing up but itched like crazy and Brooke would catch Hannah
just scratching away at it sometimes. Brooke took Hannah's hand in hers to make her stop.
"Sweetheart, I think you should get some sleep."
"I can't sleep. I don't want to." Hannah says taking her hand back.
Brooke sighed at this. Hannah barely let Brooke touch her anymore.
"Honey, are you scared? Cause if you are you can sleep with me. Remember it always helped when you were little."
Hannah looks up at Brooke. Brooke could only see fear and confusion in her daughter's eyes.
"It's different now. He knows where we live."
Brooke caresses Hannah's cheek. "I promise I won't let anyone near you. Come on. I'll lock my door." Brooke says taking Hannah's hand and
standing up.
"Can you bring Maddie? I don't want her to be alone either."
"Of course." Brooke says. Hannah stands up and follows Brooke.
Brooke was able to get Maddie out her room and into hers without waking her up. She lays Maddie down and gets inbetween both her daughters.
Hannah is laying down looking too afraid to close her eyes. Brooke wraps her arm around Hannah and pulls her closer to her.
"I'm right here. I won't let anything happen to you. Just close your eyes." Brooke whispers.
Hannah does what she is told and closes her eyes. She listened to Brooke's voice until she fell into a deep slumber.
"I love you, baby." Brooke says as she kisses Hannah on her head.
The next day Brooke woke up to find Hannah and Maddie on neither side of her. She began to worry and quickly got up. She ran to Maddie's room and let
out a breath of relief when she found her coloring contently in her coloring book. She quickly ran to Hannah's room and didn't see her when she opened her door.
Brooke began to panic until the bathroom door came open and Hannah walked out. Brooke ran over to Hannah and hugged her.
"You scared me!" Brooke says to Hannah.
Hannah got really confused. "Sorry, I won't ever shower again."
Brooke rolled her eyes and let go of Hannah who walked to her room.
An hour or so later Brooke was in the kitchen making lunch when Jamie walks in from the front door.
"Well, James Lucas Scott, do what do I owe this surprisiing visit?"
"Hannah called me. She wants to go to the Rivercourt." Jamie answers as he walks over to the kitchen counter and sits.
"Hannah Davis?" Brooke asks confused.
"Yeap. I was surprised, too." Jamie says.
Just then Hannah walks out holding her basketball in her hands.
"Hey, Jamie." Hannah says as she throws the basketball to him. "I'm going to the Rivercourt, Mom. I'll be back later."
"Hold it." Brooke says as she walks over to Hannah and puts her hand on her forehead.
"What are you doing?" Hannah asks.
"You're going to the Rivercourt?"
"It's Saturday. I don't want to stay in the house all day." answers Hannah in a 'duh' tone of voice.
Brooke jumps up and smiles. "Thank God." She kisses Hannah on the cheek. "Have fun!"
"Bye, freak." Hannah says as she and Jamie walk out the house.
Brooke runs to Maddie's room.
"Madison, your sister went to the Rivercourt today!" Brooke says in excitment. She picks up Maddie and spins her around.
"Really!?" Maddie gasp. "Yay!!"
Brooke was truely excited that Hannah was finally out of the house braving the world. Well, braving Tree Hill.
At the Rivercourt Jamie and Hannah are shooting around.
"Did you see how excited Aunt Brooke was that you were leaving?" Jamie laughed.
"Uh, yeah. I definitely feel the love." Hannah said making it in the hoop.
"Even though you don't have the Scott genes you are really good." Jamie says amazed.
"What do you expect? I'm always around you, your dad, and Uncle Lucas. I've had no choice but to learn."
"You should go out for the basketball team."
"That's okay." Hannah says making it again.
"Why not?"
"I can barely go to school. You're lucky I'm even out here."
"Yeah, I'm still kinda confused. How come you decided to get out now?" Jamie questions.
"Well, I can only take so much of my mom staring at me. And even though I know she is still worrying about me; at least I can't see her worrying.
I needed to get out." Hannah explains.
"Mind if I ask what did you tell her exactly?" asks Jamie.
"I told her what happened."
"Yeah, but what did you tell her? You told her about Owen?"
"Not exactly."
"What?!" Jamie yells. "Hannah, you can't just let him get away with it."
"I'm not!" She yells back. "He's out the house and regardless he will get sent to jail, too."
"But not for long. Hannah, you have to tell her everything."
"It's too hard. I don't want to go through everything again. My mom went through enough when I was little."
"You're already going through it. And as long as you keep lying and not telling her everything. You will live with this for the rest of your life." Jamie says.
"I already will." Hannah says making one last shot.
At Haley and Nathan's. Brooke is drinking coffee and talking with Haley in kitchen while Maddie and Sara are running around the house playing.
"You have no idea how happy I am that she is finally out of the house." Brooke says.
"I bet. Jamie was in shock after her phone call. He hadn't heard from her since she told you."
"Yeah, he's been worrying and so have I. How is Madison holding up with all this? Have you talked to her about it?" Haley asks.
"She knows Owen isn't a good guy. And I've told her many many times that if she seen Owen that she is to run as far away as possible from him. As
for what's happening to Hannah. No, I haven't explained everything. I don't know what to tell her. She's only eight." Brooke explains.
"I understand. Hey, I have an idea." Haley says suddenly lighted up with excitment.
"What?"
"Let's have a family day. You, me, Peyton, Lucas, Nathan, and all the kids. It's been a while since we've all done something together and it might just be something
Hannah needs right now."
"Yeah, sure. It's another thing that could get Hannah out that house."
"Great. I'll talk to Peyton and the guys and see when the best time will be."
"Good."
Seconds later they hear laughter coming from the back and Nathan walks in holding Maddie and Sara upside down.
"Hey, Nate." Brooke says.
"Hey, Brooke."
Haley laughs. "Honey, whatcha got there?" She asks.
"Well, I found some munchkins here playing outside. I wasn't sure if you cooked dinner yet. Maybe we could add these two in the pot."
The girls try wiggling out of Nathan's grip.
"No, Daddy!" Sara yells.
"Mommy, help me!" Maddie yells.
"Sorry, babe, you're on your own." Brooke says laughing.
Haley and Nathan began to tickle the two who are squealing in laughter.
Jamie and Hannah are walking home.
"I'm sorry if I upset you." Jamie says.
"It's okay."
"No, it's not. But I just want to help. You need to stop trying to act so tough. Let someone save you for once."
Hannah couldn't say anything back and Jamie didn't know what else to say. They were both left alone in their own thoughts. Jamie wanted to run to his parents
and beg them to tell Brooke, but Hannah wanted to run to Peyton and beg her to tell Brooke but she knew Peyton would just tell her she needed to. Hannah was
scared. She wasn't afraid that Brooke would be angry at her. She was afraid of what Brooke might do to Owen. She couldn't risk losing Brooke.
It was late that night and Brooke was up working in her studio on her sketches. It was two in the morning and she wasn't nearly close to being finished. She
rubbed her eyes and continued to draw until she heard a small knock from her door. Brooke looks up and sees a distraught Hannah. She looked like she was
going to fall at any moment. She looked small and weak.
"Hey. What are you doing up?" Brooke asks concerned.
Hannah slowly walks closer to Brooke. Brooke could see fear in Hannah's eyes and tears just begging to escape.
"I need to tell you something." Hannah finally says.