Nathan sat in the waiting room of the hospital while Brooke was in surgery. He couldn't believe that she was one that had gotten hurt because if anything he would've gotten hurt with how much people were always after him. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair for the millionth time in the last 20 minutes. He put his head in his hands and waited for Brooke to get out of surgery. He lifted his head and glanced at the clock, it was 6:30 in the morning he'd been here since almost 11 and boy was he tired but he promised that he would be here when she got out of surgery.

He rubbed his hand over his face and stood up stretching his achy body. The game last night had been murdered and sitting in the crap plastic chair for almost 2 hours wasn't helping. Finally he saw the doctor making his way down the hall towards him and Nathan decided to meet half-way. "How is she?"

"She's doing fine, surgery went fantastic and now she's just sleeping. Now I'll be back later after she's had time to sleep and recover to discuss physical therapy and other things." Nathan shook his head shaking the doctor's hand before heading back to Brooke's room. Maybe he could catch some sleep while waiting for Brooke to wake up. He smiled at the thought of sleep and pulled the chair right next to Brooke's bed. He laid his head on the bed right by her hand before drifting off to sleep.

Brooke woke up with slight pain in her knee. She looked around the room disoriented for a moment as to what was happening but then last night came rushing back to her. She looked down at her leg and saw it all wrapped up and propped up. She couldn't believe that she wouldn't be able to cheer till next season if she was able to cheer at all that is. She smiled when she looked up and saw Deb, Keith, Luke and Natalie coming in with flowers and candy.

"Hey Brooke how are you?" Deb asked a little loud waking Nathan up. He looked at Brooke and his family before shaking his head muttering obscenities under his breath. Brooke just laughed and rubbed his arm.

"I'm doing okay, I feel a little pain and trying to get used to not being able to cheer till next year if at all."

"Oh honey I'm sorry but I do have good news."

"You brought me some real food?"

"No I got a call from the dean this morning and you can take as much time as you need before going back. They don't want you suffering in the least bit so you'll just work from home."

"From home?"

"Oh I'm sorry from your dorm."

"Oh I guess that'll be okay."

"Don't worry about anything Brooke, you'll have all of us at your beck and call."

"I know it's just going to be weird not having cheerleading or work outs anymore. I'm gonna have so much free time to do whatever I want."

"Yeah it'll be great." Nathan added squeezing her thigh gently to reassure her. She just shook her head trying to clear her mind of all the scared and unsure thoughts running through her head. She didn't know if he would understand what was going through her mind. "What's wrong?" He asked noticing her facial expression changing every so often.

"I just have a lot on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked sitting up straighter in the chair. He was getting worried about her by the tone of her voice. She just shrugged her shoulders memories of the beach house playing over and over in her mind. She wondered if Nathan ever told anyone about their little meetings in the beach house.

"Did you ever tell anyone about the beach house?" He looked up at her confused as to where her question came from. They barely talked about the beach house not since Keith was in the hospital.

"What do you mean by telling people?"

"I mean did you ever tell people that we would hang out in the beach house?"

"Yeah I told one person."

"Really who?"

"My dad." He whispered softly and Brooke turned her head from staring at the door to look at him. Nathan hardly ever let his emotions run wild, he was always so distant and hid behind the wall he set up.

"Did you tell anybody else?"

"No, nobody would understand what went on in that house. They would just think that we were hooking up with each other and all that drama that I really didn't need. Plus I didn't think that people had to know. I mean who cares who's talking to whom? I sure didn't." Brooke nodded and turned back towards the door. She was hoping that her parents would come bursting through the doors and ask her a million questions about what happened. She wanted her parents to be worried about her. "I called them."

"What?"

"I called your parents and got both their voicemails. I explained in detail what happened and even where to reach you."

"Why?"

"I thought that you would have wanted them to know." He replied defensively ready to put his guard back up.

"No, I really appreciate it Nathan." She replied moving over and patting the spot next to her. He climbed in and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you Nathan."

"I love you too Brooke." She smiled and fell asleep wrapped in his arms. Things were good for now.

A/N: So that was a filler chapter to tide you over till the next chapter……….R&R!