Hi guys! I know that I promised speedy updating, but I went on a two-week vacation and truly couldn't update while I was away. I don't know how this came out, but hopefully you'll all like it. As I promised- this chapter explains what Brooke saw right before she fainted, so without further delays, I'll just let you guys read! Enjoy! ;-)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the OTH characters.
Chapter 37
Lucas felt as though time in the hospital's waiting room was standing still. As his ocean-colored eyes alertly watched the Emergency Room's doors, tensely waiting for a doctor bearing some news regarding the unconscious brunette he had rushed there, he noted that it felt like he had been waiting forever, even though it had actually been only approximately an hour. Burying his head in his hands momentarily, Lucas solemnly prayed that whatever it was that was wrong with Brooke was not serious and was not his fault. He just didn't know how he could ever forgive himself if he would find out that the car-crash he had initiated had caused Brooke to suffer from a concussion, or anything like that.
A gentle tap on his shoulder suddenly jostled Lucas from his brooding daze. He immediately raised his eyes, hoping to be met with an optimistic looking medical persona, but his eyes landed on Rachel's worried face instead.
"Any news?" she tensely asked, edgily shifting from one foot to the other as she waited for Lucas' response. After Lucas shook his head, signaling that he still didn't know anything other than what he had told her when he had called her and asked her to come to the hospital, she slumped into the seat next to him with a sigh, her eyes now trained on the ER's entrance as well.
"I swear- if the doctor comes and says she's not O.K.- I'm seriously gonna kill that bitch…" Rachel venomously muttered, her long-time hatred towards Brooke's mother rising with every passing minute as her concern towards her best friend kept growing.
Even though Lucas wanted to say something comforting to Rachel, there were simply no words of hope he could currently share, as he was worried sick about Brooke as well. Therefore, the two of them simply remained sitting side by side silently as they waited for any information regarding Brooke's condition.
After what seemed to them both like a lifetime, but was actually just short of a half an hour, a middle-aged doctor who calmly walked out of the ER finally approached them after asking who was there for Brooke Davis. As they rose to their feet and walked to meet him halfway- both Lucas and Rachel were somewhat relieved to see that he didn't seem sinister at all, but the two of them still remained somewhat tense, nonetheless, as Brooke had already been through so much, that they knew how unlikely it was that she was alright after this incident.
"How is she, doctor?" Lucas could no longer wait and questioned the doctor right when they stood, face to face. After glancing briefly at his notes, the doctor gave him a small smile before he began explaining the details of Brooke's state.
"Physically- she'll be fine. Her back and neck might feel slightly sore for a few days, but it's nothing to worry about… We were more concerned that she might have hit her head, but we ran some tests and luckily- there's no head trauma whatsoever from the accident" the doctor began sharing the good news, causing Lucas to heave a sigh of relief, as he felt as though a weight had been lifted off of his chest for finding out that he had not led to Brooke's hospitalization in any way. His relief, however, quickly faded and made way for renewed concern as the doctor continued speaking.
"However, what concerns me is Ms. Davis' emotional condition…" the doctor said, causing both of Brooke's friends to nod, as they shared the exact same concern, "I understood from the police officers that she had been through several traumatic events in quite a short amount of time, which is why we assume that she experienced a breakdown today…" he said, causing Lucas to sigh gravely while Rachel shook her head with concern.
"Is she more alert now, or is she still spacey like before?" Lucas asked worriedly, wanting to know what Brooke had been through while he had been restlessly waiting for her in the waiting room.
"Well, we gave her some anti-anxiety medication so she could be more relaxed, so right now she might seem slightly dazed or drowsy, but she's actually more rested this way…" the doctor explained, causing Lucas to nod with understanding. He hated the fact that Brooke was being drugged into a stupor, but he understood that this was the best way to help her at the moment.
"If she's simply resting, can't we just her home?" Rachel questioned, knowing how much more comfortable and relaxed Brooke would probably be outside of a hospital. The doctor, however, gave her a kind smile, but shook his head.
"I'm afraid not. We need to keep her under observation until tomorrow morning. If nothing goes wrong and she has someone to take care of her for a few days, she can then leave" he tried to explain, but only caused Rachel to frown even more.
"Why would she need someone to take care of her? I thought you said that she was fine…" she said, her tone wearing a mixture of confusion and concern. It wasn't that she minded taking care of Brooke- she would agree to that in a heartbeat, but she knew that hearing a doctor recommend that Brooke would be under observation meant that something actually was wrong, and that slightly scared her.
"I said that she was fine physically. Unfortunately, she might need some help with the emotional side…" he tried to explain, only causing Rachel's eyes to widen with even more concern, "Look- after Ms. Davis underwent repeated traumas, it will be mandatory to keep an eye on her. We will continue giving her anti-anxiety medication while she stays here, and would like her to keep taking it regularly for the next two weeks, just to help her get back on her feet. In addition- we strongly recommend therapy. If someone will be able to make sure that she's taking her medication and coming to her therapy sessions- I'm pretty certain that we'll release her tomorrow, but if nobody can look after her at home, it is our duty to-"
"It's fine. We'll take care of everything she needs" Lucas cut the doctor off, unwilling to even hear about the possibility of letting strangers take care of Brooke at the hospital. He knew that both he and Rachel would do anything for Brooke's wellbeing, and that in the hospital- she would be unlikely to get better anyway, as hospitals always seemed to depress her and deprive her of any trace of her natural cheerful character.
"Good" the doctor nodded contentedly and scribbled something in his notes, afterwards lifting his eyes and encouragingly saying, "As I said- Ms. Davis might be somewhat drowsy at the moment, but if you two would like to- you can go see her now…" he offered, smiling upon being met with eager nods and leading the duo over to Brooke's room after receiving their answer.
Once they arrived at Brooke's room, the doctor smiled encouragingly at them and then left Rachel and Lucas at the room's doorstep, needing to tend to other patients. However, instead of entering, the two of them hesitantly peered into the small room, too worried about the state of the girl inside to be able to barge in without preparing themselves for what they were about to see. Upon being met with the sight of Brooke's slender figure lying on her side motionlessly with her back to the door, the duo heaved sighs of relief and entered the room, thinking that their traumatized friend was finally getting some much needed rest. However, as soon as Rachel reached the bed and took a look at her friend's face, her features filled with fury.
"That bitch is dead…" she muttered in an upset tone, sounding so angry that Lucas sincerely believed that she was actually capable of severely hurting Victoria if she were to see her. As Rachel took several steps away from Brooke's bed in order to get a grip over herself, she enabled Lucas to step up to Brooke's side and take a look at her, so he could see what Rachel was so upset about. At the moment that his gaze fell on Brooke's face- his eyes darkened as well; Brooke was not exactly resting. In fact, her eyes were actually wide open, but she was just staring ahead with dull, glassy eyes, looking like a drained child, who was miserably trying to fall asleep, but just couldn't.
"Hi baby girl…" he softly cooed, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed and starting to gently stroke her hair. His heart broke as he felt Brooke slightly flinching under his touch at first, and then sagging back into her pillow and maintaining her spacey gaze at the wall.
"Are you feeling any better, Brooke?" he softly asked while his fingers continued gliding through her dark locks, making yet another attempt to reach out to her, yet only receiving a gentle shrug in response. Sighing, he exchanged worried glances with Rachel and then gazed back at Brooke, only to find out that her dull eyes were now slightly glazed over. Unable to decipher whether it was exhaustion or a wave of emotion that was overcoming Brooke, yet realizing that no matter what was the cause- Brooke was not in the condition to be communicative at the moment, Lucas just continued patting Brooke's hair calmingly and soothingly spoke, "Why don't you close your eyes and get some rest, baby? You look exhausted…" he suggested, smiling slightly several minutes later, when Brooke did indeed seem to be giving into her exhaustion, and slowly started falling asleep.
"What the hell did she do to her?" Rachel demanded to know in a hushed tone a few minutes later, when Brooke's chest was already rising and falling in a steady rhythm, clarifying to them that she was indeed asleep. She had done her best to keep herself together for Brooke's sake, but now that Brooke was asleep she could no longer control her anger or her need to know what Victoria had done to her poor daughter this time.
"Honestly- I don't know…" Lucas admitted, "Since I've found her, she's been incapable of talking to me" he sadly said, falling silent for several moments before gravely adding, "Whatever she did- I think that she managed to push Brooke over the edge…"
"Then I'm going to kill her, and then pull Brooke back up" Rachel determinedly replied, causing Lucas to sigh sadly.
"I seriously hope that we can do that this time… Brooke is the strongest woman I know, but there's just so much that one person can take. When I found her in her car, she looked so lost that I'm scared she reached her limit…" Lucas shared his concern with Rachel, causing her to avert her gaze over to her best friend's sleeping form. After staring at her intently for several long moments, she finally sighed.
"This is all my fault…" she guiltily said.
"What? Of course not Rachel-" Lucas began to protest, only to be cut off by the shamefaced redhead before him.
"Don't tell me it isn't, because it is. I should have never told her to go out there on her own, so now it is my personal responsibility to make sure she will be alright again. You can either help me out with this or step out of the way" Rachel told him, her sincere tone clarifying to him that she meant what she said and that he truly shouldn't argue with her if he had any intention of being by Brooke's side.
"Of course I'll help with Brooke. This is my fault much more than it is yours…" he replied, looking at Brooke sorrowfully as he remembered that the true reason she had exited her house on her own had been the mess he had created with Peyton.
"Lucas, I am dead serious- if you are not certain you want to be by Brooke's side, if there is any chance you might do something that will break her heart once again- just go now and let me deal with this" Rachel threatened, suddenly remembering how much her friend indeed suffered due to Lucas before Victoria worsened it all even more.
"I'm not going anywhere" Lucas announced with just as much determination as Rachel had, "Brooke is the only woman I want to be with, and after we'll help her get better- I'm going to make sure she knows that…" he swore, pleasing Rachel with his response and hence effectively silencing her.
As the room became quiet, both Rachel and Lucas allowed their eyes to wander over to Brooke's calm, sleeping form, and each drowned into his or her own thoughts and concerns regarding the small brunette.
"Do you really think that she might not get past all of it this time?" Rachel suddenly broke the silence and voiced her concern, causing Lucas to mentally kick himself for sharing his worries with Rachel, who was upset enough by everything that was going on as it was.
"She'll be just fine, Rache" he forced himself to softly tell her, knowing that he needed to stay positive and strong, even if he truly wasn't certain that Brooke will be fine anytime soon after everything she had endured. When he saw Rachel slightly nodding her head, undoubtedly trying to convince herself that he was right, his hand found her palm and gave it a supportive squeeze. He had come to appreciate Rachel so much over the past few weeks for everything she had been doing for Brooke, and truly wanted her to feel that she, too, was not alone in this tough time. Only after Rachel gave him a small, appreciating smile and settled back into her thoughts, did Lucas allow his own worries to overcome him. He just prayed that he was right, he just prayed that Brooke could overcome this, he just prayed that Brooke would be alright again anytime soon…
"Hi honey- you're awake…" Rachel softly greeted her best friend the following morning, when she had finally opened her eyes and awakened from her long, much needed slumber. She intently watched Brooke as she blinked disorientedly and seemed to be attempting to decipher where she was and what had happened to her.
"You had an accident yesterday. Remember?" Rachel gently tried to fill in the gap for her confused friend, without reminding her of the most stressful events that had occurred. She wanted to see how much Brooke remembered on her own and didn't want to stress Brooke out by reminding her of Victoria, if her mind was currently shading the traumatic event from her consciousness.
As her eyes seemed to struggle getting used to the light, Brooke just continued blinking and remained silent. Rachel was just starting to get worried that Brooke still might not be capable of properly responding to her, when Brooke finally cleared her throat and spoke, much to Rachel's relief.
"I remember everything about yesterday, Rachel, it's O.K." she quietly said. Her voice was even raspier than it usually was, and the meaning behind what she just said caused Rachel's heart to constrict with sadness for all that her friend had been through, but the fact that Brooke had finally spoken to her and was completely coherent lifted a huge weight off of Rachel's chest.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that, honey" Rachel softly told her, taking Brooke's hand in her own palm and starting to rub it with her thumb, to convey her support. "Are you feeling better today?" she caringly asked, but just caused Brooke to absentmindedly shrug.
"I'm fine, Rae, I just want to go home" she said, sounding slightly too indifferent for Rachel's liking and causing her to realize that it was either that Brooke had already managed to put a mask on, as she would always do when she didn't want others to see her in a vulnerable state, or that the medication that she was taking was numbing her emotions.
Just as Rachel was about to further inspect what was really going on with Brooke, Lucas entered the room, carrying bags with breakfast for all three of them. "Brooke, you're awake!" he gladly said, putting the bags down and smiling at the brunette warmly, yet only receiving a small, tight smile in return. "How are you feeling?" he inquired, repeating Rachel's question.
"I'm O.K." Brooke quietly replied, causing Lucas to frown when she used the same apathetic, slightly monotone voice with which she had answered Rachel. When he stared at her intently and realized how unnaturally calm she seemed to be, Lucas realized that the medication the doctor had given to Brooke must be doing its job. While half of him was pleased with the understanding that Brooke was finally going to be stress-free, the other half of him was heartbroken that he had no choice but to allow the doctors to basically drug Brooke and thus deprive her of her naturally emotional personality, even if it was only for a short time and for her own good.
Attempting to stay positive and be productive, Lucas forced himself to find some strength and smiled at her genuinely as he handed her the bags he had brought and said, "I brought us some breakfast, so why don't you pick what you want to eat" he kindly suggested, watching Brooke as she slowly browsed through the different bags only to pick out a small muffin in the end and start eating it quietly as he and Rachel chose their own morning pastries and began eating as well.
Throughout their entire meal, the room remained completely silent. It was truly so uncharacteristic of Brooke to be so quiet and serene, even while she was eating, that both Lucas and Rachel couldn't help but throw her worried glances every now and then. They were both dying to ask Brooke what it was that Victoria had done to her that had made her lose it and break down like she had, but they both knew better and refrained from doing so, as they didn't want to stress her out.
Several minutes after they had all finished eating, the doctor that Lucas and Rachel had spoken to during the previous day walked into the room and smiled kindly at Brooke upon noticing that she was finally awake.
"Good morning, Ms. Davis. How are you feeling today?" he asked her, coming up to her and taking her hand in order to check her pulse.
Normally, after being asked the same question for a third time in a row, Brooke would either get annoyed or make a joke, if she was in a light mood, yet this time she simply shrugged and obediently replied, "I'm fine, doctor. I would like to go home now."
While Lucas' eyes almost filled with tears as he took in how much Brooke sounded like the polite, dull schoolgirl she had never been, the doctor simply smiled at Brooke's words and happily replied.
"Well, I would like you to have a talk with Dr. Frank. As soon as she approved- you'll be free to go home" he told her with a smile, yet caused Brooke to frown.
"Who is she?" she suspiciously inquired. She still seemed much more calm and emotionally-numbed than her usual soulful self, but traces of her emotional personality seemed to be slowly seeping through.
"That's our specialist for trauma victims, Ms. Davis" the doctor patiently explained, and Lucas was grateful to no extent that he hadn't used the word 'psychologist', for he knew what an intense reaction that would have elicited out of Brooke. Still, even the doctor's soften description of the woman of profession caused Brooke to raise her eyebrow with discontent.
"I just went through a tough time yesterday, I'm not losing it…" she told the doctor defensively, resembling more and more her lively self, but in the process- beginning to slightly tremble.
Having noticed her friend's slightly upset and stressed state, Rachel quickly came to her side and put her arm around Brooke's shoulders as she calmingly said, "Sweetie, nobody thinks that something's wrong with you. We all just want you to get all the help you can get so you can get better" she tried to make her see, yet Brooke shrugged Rachel's arm off of her shoulder and retorted with an upset tone.
"I don't need help. I'm fine" she insisted.
"Your hands are trembling, Brooke, and yesterday you scared the hell out of me, so don't tell me that you are fine!" Rachel suddenly snapped at Brooke, causing her to lower her eyes to her lap shamefully, realizing that her friends had also been through hell during the previous day, and not only her.
Realizing that she had been a little harsher on Brooke than she intended, Rachel sighed and spoke once again, yet made sure to maintain a soft voice this time, "You're my best friend, Brooke, and seeing you struggling with everything that happened to you is breaking my heart" she said, causing Brooke to raise her eyes and look at her friend with an emotion-filled expression. "When you found me in your flat and I was in too deep to help myself on my own- you made sure I'd get help, and that's the only reason I'm fine right now" she tried to reason with Brooke, yet the brunette only shook her head and quietly replied.
"No, I didn't. When you told me you needed me, I helped you myself" she corrected Rachel, sounding so betrayed with the fact that Rachel wanted strangers to be dealing with her that tears began forming in Rachel's eyes. She hated doing this, but she knew what had to be done.
"I love you for what you tried to do for me, but we both know that I only really got better after I went to get professional help, Brooke" Rachel pointed out, effectively silencing her friend for long enough so she could plead with her, "Please, Brooke- do this for me."
Looking into her friend's tearful eyes, Brooke heaved a deep sigh and reluctantly nodded her head. "Fine" she muttered, "but I'm only doing this for you, Rae. I really don't need this" she felt the need to clarify, causing Rachel to wipe her tears and to smile.
"Thank you" she simply said, knowing that even though it might take a while, Brooke would be bound to thank her in the end.
"Alright, then" the doctor broke the intense dialogue between the two friends and approached Brooke once again, "Dr. Frank should be free to see you right now. Do you feel strong enough to walk with me over to her office, or do you think you might need someone to take you there in a wheelchair?" he kindly asked, yet caused Brooke to defensively stand up on her feet.
"Like I told you- I am fine" she insisted. Even though her body was still trembling slightly, the doctor nodded and gestured for Brooke to follow him, as he didn't want to further upset and distress her. Lucas, however, could no longer stand aside and do nothing. He therefore came up to Brooke's side and put his hand on the small of her back, supporting her as she walked. He was pleasantly surprised to see that Brooke only glanced at him momentarily, but then simply cast her eyes forward and made no attempt to deny his support.
When they all reached Dr. Frank's office and the woman of profession came out to welcome Brooke into her clinic, Lucas carefully let his hand slide off of Brooke's back, yet before she managed to walk inside, he softly whispered into her ear, "I'll be waiting right here for you, Brooke. Don't hesitate to call for me if you need anything at all…"
After smiling at him softly, Brooke stepped into the clinic and left Lucas to watch as the office's door closed after her. Sitting down with a sigh, Lucas just hoped that pushing Brooke into therapy was the right thing to do, as the last thing he wanted was for Brooke to step out of the clinic even more broken than she already was…
They had formally greeted each other more than two minutes ago, and now Brooke was restlessly watching Dr. Frank glancing at her medical file every few moments and then scribbling quickly into her notepad. Feeling truly unnerved, Brooke began fidgeting with her fingers, only to freeze self-consciously and pull her palms away when the woman before her suddenly stopped writing and gazed at her fiddling hands intently. If she wanted to be completely honest with herself- Brooke had to admit that the medication she had been given the day before truly did make her feel much better, but there was no way in hell that she was going to let the psychologist before her know that, so she wouldn't label her as being insane. Knowing that she needed to pull herself together and put up a composed façade for this upcoming session, so Rachel could see that she didn't need help, Brooke straightened her posture and looked at the doctor before her as calmly as she could when she finally began speaking.
"So, Brooke- I would like to start our session with you explaining to me what happened to you recently that made you seek therapy" Dr. Frank said, causing Brooke to immediately retort.
"The doctor here and my friends insisted that I would come" she said, causing the doctor to smile.
"And why would that be, Brooke?" she insisted, realizing that she might need to corner Brooke in order to receive some answers. Brooke, however, gave her a fake smile and calmly spoke.
"I don't know" she said, "I'm perfectly fine."
"You know what? Why don't we start with something else…" Dr. Frank decided upon realizing that her new patient was far too defensive for her usual techniques. As Brooke carelessly shrugged, the psychologist carried on and said, "I would like to ask you some questions regarding your childhood" she told Brooke, causing the small brunette to make an indifferent face. "When you were young- have you ever experienced violence at home from either one of your parents?" she sincerely questioned, receiving a confident shake of the head from Brooke. "Was there any form of abuse you have ever suffered from in your family?" she continued questioning.
"No!" Brooke retorted, horrified with the mere thought. Sure, her parents had been anything but the perfect mother and father, but never in a million years would they even think about sexually abusing her. Feeling as though this questioning was completely unnecessary, Brooke shook her head and rose to her feet.
"Look- I appreciate your attempt, doctor- but this is a waste of your time" she apologetically said, "I'm totally fine, so I don't see any reason to continue with this…" she told her as she turned around. She had already begun taking several steps towards the room's door when Dr. Frank once again spoke.
"What about negligence?" Dr. Frank questioned, causing Brooke to stop dead in her tracks. Upon realizing she had hit a sore spot, Dr. Frank only pushed on, "Have you ever felt neglected or unloved as a child?" she asked, causing Brooke to feel her heart constricting with pain she thought she had managed to bury many years before. As the room fell silent as the weight of Dr. Frank's words lingered in the air, Brooke couldn't help but start tearing up, despite the numbing effect of her medication. Turning around with tears shimmering in her eyes, Brooke was met with Dr. Frank's kind smile, which invited her to come and sit back down. As she took in the offer and returned to the couch she had been sitting on, gladly accepting the box of tissues Dr. Frank held out to her, Brooke marveled over the understanding that there might be ghosts from her past that she hadn't truly buried and needed to confront after all.
"How about we start over again, sweetheart? I think that we do have some things we could talk about…" Dr. Frank kindly offered, and Brooke simply nodded, realizing that therapy might be a smart idea after all…
It had taken both Rachel and Lucas by surprise that Brooke had actually stayed in her therapy session for the whole 45 minutes she was entitled to receive. When she had finally emerged from the room with a tear-stained face, though, they both realized that as painful as it must have been for her- talking about the traumas she had endured with a professional had been exactly what she had needed. Lucas sadly smiled as he watched the girl he loved with all of his heart thanking the psychologist and afterwards scheduling her next session with her and obediently taking the bottle of anti-anxiety pills from her, swallowing one of them immediately, as the psychologist advised. Knowing what a big, important step she had just taken- Lucas couldn't help but hug Brooke to his side and whisper into her hair that he was proud of her when they had both walked towards his car along with Rachel, finally leaving the hospital, at Dr. Frank's approval.
When the three of them arrived at Brooke's house, Rachel and Lucas could undoubtedly tell that the pill she had taken at Dr. Frank's office was already affecting Brooke, as she seemed to be sluggish, unsteady and extremely serene. Lucas therefore wrapped his arms around Brooke and softly kissed her head when he could feel her slender arms circling his waist and holding onto him for support. He cautiously led her up the steps to her front door, as one would lead a drowsy child, and gently helped her lie down on her sofa, upon her request. At the moment- none of the awkwardness that existed between the two of them before mattered or was even present- because Brooke needed support too much for either one of them to even think about the status of their relationship. Lucas assumed that when Brooke would get better, things might once again become awkward between the two of them, but at the moment, all he could possibly care about was making sure that she felt safe and that all of her needs were being taken care of.
As he soothingly stroked Brooke's hair in an attempt to help her get some rest, there was suddenly a knock on the door, which cause Brooke's tired eyes to open slightly.
"Close your eyes, pretty girl, I'll take care of whatever it is" Lucas calmingly said, pleased to notice that Brooke was taking his advice despite the affectionate nickname that had slipped off of his tongue by accident. As he reached the door and opened it, Lucas was surprised to find Bob standing before him.
"Hey man, what's up?" Lucas greeted the police officer as he let him into the house, glancing over at Brooke, who was rising to a sitting position upon opening her eyes and spotting the guest at her house.
"I'm great, Lucas. I just came to check on Brooke" he said, averting his eyes from Lucas over to Brooke and looking at her with worried eyes.
"I'm alright now. Thank you for helping me yesterday" she quietly and slowly replied, sounding just slightly slurred from her medication and drowsiness, yet deepening Bob's frown nonetheless.
"Listen, Brooke. I don't want you to stress yourself out, O.K.? I came to tell you that Victoria is in custody and that I will personally do everything in my power to make sure that she can't come near you again" he sincerely promised as he came up to Brooke and looked her in the eye. He usually didn't get so involved in the cases he was working on, but seeing as Brooke was so dear to Nathan, who was truly a close friend of his, he felt the need to personally do everything he possibly could for her.
While Bob's words put a reassured expression on Rachel and Lucas' faces, Brooke did not seem to be comforted by his words. As Bob's gaze at her intensified, he actually had to admit that she seemed even more troubled than before he had spoken, and he therefore couldn't help but ask- "What is it, Brooke? I promise you that you don't have to worry about Victoria anymore."
"That's the thing…" she confusedly replied. While at first all those staring at her thought that she was simply lacking focus due to her medication, when she continued speaking, it became clear that something else might be puzzling her. "I just don't know what to think anymore…"
"Honey, maybe you should lie down and get some rest…" still not convinced whether it was Brooke's coherent thoughts or the medication speaking, Rachel gently suggested, not wanting Brooke to get all worked up just because her mind was currently slightly hazy.
"No, I'm fine, I just…"
"What is it, Brooke?" Bob questioned intently when Brooke's speech once again faltered in midsentence. He wasn't sure whether her train-of-though kept on cutting off or whether she was simply afraid to speak up, but he understood that Brooke was struggling in an attempt to tell him something of great importance.
"What you showed me yesterday… I kind of recognized it…" she finally admitted, her eyes meeting his gaze and causing his eyes to widen as he realized that this might be the evidence he needed to finally crack the case of Brooke's attack and prove without doubt who was behind her attack.
"You remember the small phone-book I had in the bag right before you fainted?" he questioned, wanting to clarify that Brooke was talking about the same thing he thought she was. When she clearly nodded, a smile formed on Bob's face, as he understood that he might have just found the missing piece to the mystery of Brooke's attack. Looking straight at Brooke, he sincerely questioned, "So if we go down to the station right now, would you be able to identify that phone-booklet as the property of Victoria Davis?"
"That's the thing…" she hesitantly said, causing all eyes to stay trained at her intently as she tentatively spoke, "I'm certain I know who it belongs to, and this person might also have a motive to hurt me, but it does not belong to my mother…" Brooke quietly said, causing all three of her friends' eyes to widen with shock.
"Brooke, this might be crucially important" Bob stressed as he put his hands on her shoulders, looking at her with tense, curious eyes, "This phone-book was found among the possessions of the man who attacked you" he revealed and afterwards added, "I need you to tell me who is the owner of that phone-book" he said, realizing that Brooke might give all of them an entirely new lead when she would open her mouth.
"I… I don't want to be getting innocent people into trouble, Bob… I'm probably wrong about this whole possible motive thing…" Brooke insecurely said as her eyes dropped to her lap, not before all three of those who were staring at her could see how her soulful eyes flashed fear and an expression of betrayal, which told them that Brooke was certainly on to something.
"Brooke, if the person who owns this is innocent- nothing will happen to him" Bob explained, trying to convince Brooke to talk, as he could sense her immense hesitance, "All I will do is question him and see if he knows anything about your attacker. However, this might be my only chance to catch whoever wants to hurt you if this person can lead me to him…" he tried to make her see, finally caused Brooke to sigh and lift her eyes back up.
"That phone-book… It belongs to someone who might be bothered with how close I've gotten to Lucas during the past year" she quietly revealed, causing Lucas and Rachel's jaws to drop as they understood who she must be referring to.
"What?"
"You have got to be kidding me!" they both exclaimed in unison, yet Bob maintained his unwavering gaze at Brooke and beckoned her to speak.
"Come on, Brooke- who's phone-book is that?"
"That phone-book…" she began, pausing to lick her dry lips and to take a calming breath, "Many years ago I bought that phone-book for the girl who used to be my best friend since I was a kid. Her name is Peyton Sawyer."
AN: Did any of you see that coming? Hopefully not, because I was trying to take you all by surprise! ;-) I would really appreciate it if you guys took a moment to tell me what you thought of this chapter. It always makes my day! ;-)