"Momma and daddy will be back soon! You be good for your Grandma Karen." Brooke was kneeling on the ground in front of her daughter.
"Why can't I go say goodbye to Quentin too?" Juliet looked up from her coloring pages.
Brooke didn't know how to answer her daughter's question. She felt that it would be important for Juliet to witness the process of grief so it doesn't take her by surprise when the time comes for her to grief. Haley and Nathan were both bringing Jamie because of Jamie's close connection to Quentin Fields.
She got up from her kneeling position on the wooden floor and walked back into her bedroom to find Lucas. She found him standing in front of the full length mirror in their closet.
"Luke I think we should let her go and say goodbye to Quentin. She loved that boy!" Brooke began to help Lucas put on his suit jacket.
Today was such a tragic day for Lucas. He was saying goodbye to one of his beloved players and although Quentin and Lucas started off on a bad note they ended as friends.
He started putting on his tie, "You think that is such a good idea?" Lucas kept his eyes down on his black tie.
"I think it is! She is about to turn six and what if I would have died in that attack…" Brooke trailed off; flashing back to the night she was attacked in her store. She could still see the dark shadow of Xavier running towards her.
"Brooke, don't think like that!" Lucas ripped his tie from around his neck and threw it onto the bed.
"We have to think like that Lucas! I almost died two weeks ago and my daughter would have been thrown into this world of pain and grief and she wouldn't have known what to do with it. By us letting her go to this funeral and say goodbye to Quentin we are letting her get a little look into this world so when the day comes she won't be so shaken up."
Brooke picked up Lucas' tie and slipped it around his neck. "You okay?" She tied his tie around his neck for him and ran her hand over it to smooth it out.
Lucas sighed heavily and dropped his head, "No! I thought I would be okay but I'm not!" Tears filled to the brim of his eyes. "I'm going to miss Quentin Fields. He was so talented and so young. His death is such a tragedy."
Brooke pulled Lucas into her sore arms; although her bruises were starting to fade she was still tender. "Luke this day is for letting all of that go! You can't keep that pinned up and pretend like you're okay."
He began to sob into his chest, tears staining the breasts of her black dress.
Brooke was struggling with this in an entirely different way. She didn't understand why she was so lucky to get a second chance and to be able to live through her attack but Quentin's second chance was snatched from his cold hands. She held in her tears and focused on comforting Lucas.
"It's okay Luke!" She gently rubbed his back as he continued to sob into her black designer dress.
Lucas pulled away and looked into her eyes, "Thank you so much for coming with me Brooke! I know you didn't know Quentin well…"
She smiled sadly, "You're welcome! I feel this sad connection to Quentin because he is the only person who actually gets what I'm going through 100% except he died during his attack..." She stopped herself before she began to cry.
The couple arrived at the church where the funeral service was being held with Juliet. Haley and Nathan brought Jamie to the service so Juliet sat with her sad cousin in the church. Juliet had only known Quentin briefly before his death but he always referred to her as his little sister.
During the service Lucas managed to hold himself together by keeping a hold on Brooke's hand and giving it tight squeezes throughout the service. But now that they were at the funeral home and burying Quentin, Lucas felt himself slowly getting weaker. He kept Brooke close by his side and he was began to feel Brooke's shivers as they watched Quentin's family say their final goodbye to Quentin.
Brooke was holding in her anger and sadness as hard as she could. She had her designer black shades over her bruised eyes as she watched Quentin's mother sink to her knees by her son's casket. "If only that were me instead of him, these people wouldn't be hurting like this!" She thought to herself.
Juliet stood next to Jamie comforting the sad four year old. She kept hold of his tiny little hand and whispered praises to him to keep him standing. "You're doing great Jamie!" Juliet was as strong as her mother and was able to stand without shedding a tear.
Haley stood biting down on her quivering bottom lip as she fought back her tears. She spent the whole service at the church crying into Nathan's shoulder. Nathan had been able to remain strong during the service but like his big brother he was becoming weak to his emotions.
The Tree Hill Ravens' basketball team all lined up around Quentin Fields' grave as they said a final goodbye to their team mate. No one in the watching crowd could hold back their tears as they watched Quentin's former team mates bow their heads in respect of their teammate.
Lucas wiped a tear from his eyes with his thumb as he watched Quentin's little brother join the team and put on Quentin's old basketball jersey. Brooke's shivers came faster as she watched the little boy, she felt as if she'd taken his big brother from him.
This was the end of the funeral so everyone began to leave and head back to their cars but Jamie stayed put.
"Hey Jamie what's the matter?" Brooke kneeled down to her god son.
"I want to give Quentin this cape!" Jamie held out a tiny brown box. "Since you made the cape will you give it to him with me?"
Brooke smiled sadly but nodded, "I sure will buddy!"
She took Jamie by the hand and led him back to Quentin's closed casket. She watched in silence as the young boy pulled the red cape from the tiny brown box he had been carrying around all day. Jamie spread the cape out over the casket and took his place at his Aunt Brooke's side.
Brooke peeled off her black shades and slid them into her matching black purse. She felt a wall breaking down inside of her as she stared at the casket now covered with a red cape with the letter Q sewn onto the back.
She began to cry. "This could have been me! This should have been me and not Quentin!" She thought to herself as she began to sob violently. Her body began to shake with her cry.
Jamie stood solid and silently next to his Aunt Brooke. "It's okay Aunt Brooke! Quentin is resting in peace now!" He grabbed her hand to comfort her.
Lucas, Juliet, Haley, and Nathan all watched this with tears in their eyes and lumps forming in their throats. Lucas took Juliet's arms and led the five year old over to her mother.
"Momma it's okay!" Juliet reached out and hugged her shaking mother.
Brooke took her daughter into her quivering arms and nodded, "I know baby!" Her sobs became quiet as she accepted her daughter's embrace.
Juliet climbed out of her mother's arms and hugged her cousin, "You did great Jamie. I'm sure Quentin is happy you gave him his cape to wear in heaven!"
Lucas wrapped his arms around Brooke and the couple began to silently cry together. This was a great loss for them both but in very different ways.
Nathan turned to his wife and at the sight of her tears he began to break down. Haley looked up at a crying Nathan and pulled him closer to her. "We all loved him Nathan, it is okay to cry!"
The family stood around Quentin's casket and cried together. They released all of their pain into one another's arms; all of them dealing with Quentin's death in similar yet different ways.
"Quentin Fields was a basketball player, a brother, a son, and a great friend. They say he had a loving heart and that he gave his heart to everyone and everything in his life. I didn't know Quentin Fields and I guess now I never will. I will never get to experience the grace he held while playing the sport he loved so much. I will never get to experience being a great friend to the loss star." A dark haired classmate of Quentin's took in the sight of the family gathered around his casket. "Although I didn't know him I am jealous of him. His absence has affected the people who did know him so greatly." The dark haired girl smiled sadly at the sobbing family and turned to leave the grave yard with her friend.
"You sure you don't want to go say hey Sam?" The girl's friend asked her.
Samantha Walker shook her head, "I recognize those people. I stole from one of them and I don't think they would be too happy to see me right now!" She looked back at Brooke and smiled sadly. "They deserve this moment to themselves." She disappeared from the grave yard.