Saturday
Brooke pulled into a parking space at the hospital.
"You said we were going home," Sam said.
"We are. We're just going here first," Brooke said.
"I have a cold! I don't need to go to the hospital!" Sam protested.
"You passed out. You absolutely need to go to the hospital," Brooke said firmly.
"Brooke, I didn't pass out because I'm sick," Sam said.
"Oh, really? When did you get your medical degree?" Brooke asked sarcastically with raised eyebrows.
"I hadn't had enough to eat that day and I was really tired," Sam said.
"How much did you have to eat that day?" Brooke demanded.
"A cheeseburger," Sam said.
Brooke raised her eyebrows. "That's it?"
Sam decided it probably wasn't a good idea to mention that she'd actually only eaten half of a cheeseburger and that it was after she'd passed out, so she stared straight ahead out the window and nodded.
No wonder Sam had lost weight. She wasn't eating. Brooke wanted to scream. She wasn't sure who she was angrier at right now-Jimmy or herself. She'd known deep down that something wasn't right. She should never have let Sam leave.
"That's not the point. I want to make sure this is just a cold," Brooke said. She got out of the car and waited expectantly for Sam to do the same. Sam lingered in the car for several seconds. She only got out when Brooke shot her a warning look.
Brooke filled out the paperwork. There wasn't a long wait. Brooke and Sam were led back to an exam room. Brooke sat down on a chair while Sam sat down on the exam table.
A middle-aged man entered wearing scrubs. "Hi. I'm Dr. Stein." He shook Sam's hand. He glanced down at the form Brooke had filled out earlier. "So you think you have a cold?" Sam nodded. "How long have you had the symptoms?"
"About a week," Sam replied.
"And you passed out yesterday?" Dr. Stein asked.
Sam nodded.
Dr. Stein put a thermometer in Sam's mouth. He frowned when he took it out. "You have a temperature of one hundred and three."
"It was one hundred and two yesterday," Brooke said.
Sam rolled her eyes. She'd been right. Haley had obviously reported every single detail of what happened yesterday to Brooke.
Dr. Stein ran a few tests before concluding that Sam had the flu. "Have you been able to keep anything down?"
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"But she hasn't been eating normally," Brooke added. Sam glared at Brooke.
Dr. Stein nodded. "Her weight has dropped ten pounds since she was in here for an allergic reaction. I'm going to prescribe Tamiflu and an anti-nausea medication and release her today, but if she doesn't get better, you need to bring her back. She's at risk for dehydration."
Ten pounds. She'd lost ten pounds while she was living with her dad. Brooke was furious.
Brooke stopped at a pharmacy near Jimmy' apartment building.
"While you get the prescription filled, I'm going to go get my stuff from my dad's," Sam said.
"No. I'll take you to get your stuff. I don't want you alone with him," Brooke said.
"Brooke, I've been alone with him for two weeks. Nothing's gonna happen," Sam protested.
"You're right. Nothing's gonna happen because you're not going alone," Brooke said sternly.
Sam sighed. She knew it was no use arguing. They picked up Sam's prescriptions and then went to Jimmy's apartment building.
"You should stay in the car." Sam didn't even know why she bothered trying. She knew what Brooke's answer would be before the words left her mouth. She didn't really want Brooke to see Jimmy's apartment, but she needed her stuff.
"No," Brooke said.
Sam used her key to unlock the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the apartment was empty. She didn't really want Brooke and Jimmy in the same room right now.
Brooke followed Sam into the apartment. The apartment was filthy. It reeked of cigarette smoke. Empty beer bottles lined the counter. She couldn't believe Sam had been living here for two weeks. It made her sick.
Sam stuffed what little she had into her backpack quickly, but she wasn't fast enough. Jimmy walked into the door while Sam was packing. He smirked when he saw her. "You're back. I hope you didn't come empty-handed."
"I'm not back. I'm just getting my stuff," Sam said.
Brooke instinctively moved closer to Sam. Jimmy scowled when he saw her. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment? Get the hell out."
"Gladly," Brooke said with venom in her voice. She softened as she turned to Sam. "Come on, Sam."
Sam kept her head down and followed Brooke to the car. Brooke was glaring frosty daggers at Jimmy. Her hands clenched into fists. It took everything in her to walk away without slapping him. He wasn't worth it. Sam needed her right now.
"You've been sleeping on a couch, starving yourself and working your ass off and you never came to me," Brooke said. Her expression was pained.
"I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want you to hate me. Telling you I wanted to live with my dad was so hard. I just wanted to protect Seth," Sam said.
Brooke looked into Sam's eyes. "Samantha, I could never hate you. I love you. The reason I'm so hurt is because you've been hurting for two weeks. I should have protected you, and I failed."
"No, don't say that. It's not your fault," Sam said thickly.
"Maybe it's not my fault that your dad threatened you, but I think it is my fault that you didn't trust me enough to come to me," Brooke said.
"I trust you," Sam insisted.
Brooke shook her head. "Apparently not enough."
As soon as they got in the house, Brooke started making lunch. "Go take a shower and put pajamas on."
"It's noon," Sam protested.
Brooke ignored the teen's protests. "I'll have lunch ready. Then you can go to bed."
"It's noon!" Sam said a little louder.
"Yeah, and you have the flu," Brooke said with her hands on her hips.
Julian carried Seth until they were far enough away from the bank that he couldn't see or hear what was going on even though Seth was fighting the whole way. Seth was squirming around in Julian's arms, kicking him. "I want down!"
Julian finally set Seth down. Seth's face was flushed with anger. He'd been yelling for Julian to put him down for several minutes straight. He hit Julian as hard as he could. Luckily for Julian, Seth's five-year-old fist wasn't capable of doing much damage.
"Hey!" Julian said. He knelt down and used his hand to cuff Seth's hands together, so Seth couldn't hit him again. He looked into Seth's eyes. "What's this about?"
"I want to know if that was my dad! I want to see Sam!" Seth shouted.
"You'll see Sam later," Julian said. He felt fairly certain Brooke would not leave Sam with her dad.
"Was that my dad?" Seth asked.
Julian sighed. He had no idea what to tell Seth. "I don't know, Buddy. You can ask Brooke when we get home, OK?"
Seth nodded. "Julian, I'm sorry I hit you."
"Me too. It didn't feel good," Julian said.
"Are you mad at me?" Seth asked.
"A little. You can't hit people. You should treat people with respect," Julian scolded.
"Are you going to forgive me like I forgave Sam?" Seth asked.
"Yeah," Julian said with a smile.
They went to the arcade. Julian put a twenty into the machine and pocketed the tokens. "What do you want to play first?"
Seth looked around and pointed to a racecar game. They sat down next to each other. Julian put tokens in each machine. Seth was really bad. He kept driving off the road and crashing his car. Julian laughed. "Try to stay on the road." Julian won easily. "I'm going to have to warn Brooke to wear a helmet when she teaches you to drive. What do you want to play next?"
They played games for a few hours. Then they went to the cafeteria and got pizza and sodas.
"Is this what it's like to have a dad?" Seth asked.
Julian's eyes widened. He wasn't expecting that. He didn't know how to answer Seth's question. "I don't know. My dad wasn't exactly father of the year."
"Was he bad?" Seth asked.
"He was just never proud of me no matter what I did," Julian explained.
Sam was sleeping and Brooke was reading a magazine on the couch when Julian and Seth returned to the house.
"Look what we won!" Seth said loudly, holding up a small stuffed animal.
"Shh! Sam's sleeping," Brooke said quickly.
Seth lit up. "Sam's here? Is she staying?"
"Yeah," Brooke replied with a smile. She pulled Seth into her lap and admired the stuffed animal. "That is very cool."
"Was that my dad?" Seth asked.
Brooke sighed. She'd known she would have to answer that question when they got home. Julian had texted her to warn her. It didn't make it any easier. "Yeah, Buddy, that was your dad."
"Does he like Sam better than me?" Seth asked.
"Of course not," Brooke said.
"Then why does he hang out with her but not me?" Seth asked.
"Seth, he wasn't good to Sam. That's why we don't want him to hang out with you," Brooke explained.
"He's bad?" Seth asked.
Brooke nodded. "Yeah. You can't trust people when they're bad."
"Julian's dad is bad, too," Seth said.
Brooke looked at Julian. He shrugged. "Yeah, there's definitely some parents you're better off without," Brooke said.
"And there are some you're lucky to have," Julian said with a meaningful glance at Brooke.
Brooke smiled at Julian. "Let's see if there's anything good on TV." She flipped to the Disney channel.
Julian joined them on the couch. He put an arm around Brooke's shoulder. Brooke rested her head on his shoulder. Seth fell asleep stretched across their laps.
"What happened with Sam?" Julian asked. He spoke quietly so as not to wake Seth, and kept one eye on Seth to make sure he didn't stir.
Brooke's smile was instantly replaced by a look of pure hatred. "He made a deal with Sam that she would give him money and he would stay away from Seth."
Julian's expression changed from one of concern to one of shock and horror. "Unbelievable. And I thought our parents were bad."
"His apartment was…" Brooke's face showed her repulsion better than any words could. "She's been living in a studio apartment sleeping on the couch. She's lost ten pounds because she hasn't been eating enough. She's been working her ass off just so she could pay her dad. She has the flu."
"She's going to be OK. She's safe here with you," Julian murmured.
"It kills me because if she'd just trusted me enough to come to me, none of this would have happened," Brooke muttered.
"Maybe she didn't come to you because she trusts you. She knew what he was doing was wrong. She wouldn't have lied if everything were OK. And she knew that you would do the right thing. You wouldn't have let her leave. You're better than that. She knows that, Brooke," Julian said.
Brooke looked into Julian's eyes. "You always make everything OK."
"Because I love you, Brooke Davis," Julian said with a grin.
"I love you, too," Brooke whispered.
"It's about time you said that when I was awake," Julian said with a smirk.
Brooke stared at him. "You were awake!" She punched his arm playfully.
Julian winced. "You hit harder than Seth."
"He hit you?" Brooke asked.
"Let's just say he wasn't happy about leaving his dad and Sam," Julian explained.
"I can't believe he hit you! I'm sorry," Brooke said.
"It's OK. He apologized," Julian said.
"Well, it's not OK, but I'm glad he apologized," Brooke said.
Sam emerged from her bedroom. She sat down in an armchair.
"What are you doing?" Brooke asked.
Sam stared at her. "Um, sitting here watching TV."
"What are you doing up? Why aren't you in bed?" Brooke asked with raised eyebrows.
"I'm not tired," Sam replied.
"Go back to bed," Brooke said.
"I've been in bed for hours," Sam whined.
"Come here," Brooke said.
Sam slowly approached the couch. Brooke felt Sam's forehead. "You're burning up. Now go back to bed," Brooke said firmly. Sam rolled her eyes. Brooke decided to try a different tact. "Look, you have to rest or you won't get better. You can sleep in your bed or you can sleep in a hospital bed."
"Fine," Sam muttered. She stomped back to her room.
Julian smirked. "You're mean."
"I just want her to get better. She hasn't been taking care of herself. She's been running around the cemetery in the middle of the night instead of sleeping," Brooke said defensively.
"If I get sick, will you nurse me back to health?" Julian asked with a grin.
"Yes," Brooke said with a smile.
"I'd like to see you in a nurse's costume," Julian said with a smirk.
Brooke smiled. "That can be arranged."