Chapter Fifty-Three: The Last Thing They Remember


Author's note: If any of you (understandably) are having difficulty keeping track of the extended Scotts in this story, I have posted a handy family tree at my blog, which you can link to from my profile-it's listed as my homepage. Hope that helps, thanks for the response to last chapter, and enjoy!


Late at night, as his sleep was interrupted by nurses, new admissions and the occasional siren, Lucas realized that although many bad things had happened to them all over the years, none of them had really been to him.

He'd never been shot at, or lost a baby. He'd spent hours in the waiting room, but never been on the inside, never had to spend a week in the hospital without any apparent reason.

But, he reasoned, it wasn't like he had anywhere else to be. Brooke was still in recovery. And he knew that all he wanted was to be where she was.

Waiting a few moments to ensure that the coast was clear, he slowly eased himself out of his bed, grabbed the IV he was attached to, and slowly began to make his way down the hall.

He rarely had the opportunity to visit her, but he knew exactly where her room was. He waited anxiously outside her room for a moment, listening for the sounds of Doctors or nurses checking on her.

"Luke?" came her surprised whisper, as he crept into her room, his IV following him.

"Hey," he whispered. He walked to her bed and knelt next to it, looking into her hazel eyes. "Did I wake you?"

"Of course not. Come here," she requested, moving over on the bed. Lucas carefully slid in beside her, taking her body into his arms, avoiding touching the wrist that was covered in plaster.

They were silent, staring into their eyes in the darkness.

"I'm sorry," she said eventually.

"For what?"

"If I hadn't gone, you wouldn't have needed to find me. It was late. You shouldn't have had to," she explained. He laughed softly and pressed a kiss onto her forehead.

"That's crazy. You wouldn't have gone if you didn't have a reason to." He paused. "I'm sorry for the reason, Brooke."

Brooke burrowed her face into his shoulder, attempting to muffle the sobs that were beginning to escape.

"I know you are. God, I know. I want to forgive you, Luke, I do," she promised.

"Don't cry, pretty girl."

"She's a good kid. I think I'll like her. Her mother's a bit of a bitch, but that's not going to matter long term. We'll be fine. All of us."

"We have to be," agreed Lucas.

"We've always made it through before," agreed Brooke.

Lucas smiled as she looked into his eyes again, and they kissed briefly.

"Always will. Anyway, what's the worse that can happen now? We've seen it all."

Comforted by his logic, Brooke drifted off to sleep more easily than she'd done in months.


"Mr. Scott? Mr. Scott?"

Lucas started at the sound of the angry voice next morning, and looked up to realize it was a doctor, one who looked annoyed to find him in the bed of his still recovering wife.

"Lucas?" asked Brooke, waking slowly. The doctor let out another noise of disbelief as he rose slowly from the bed.

"Sorry. I wanted to see her," explained Lucas, not sounding overly sorry.

"I guess it's fine. I need to talk to your wife. You should probably be here, too," he said. Lucas nodded, finding Brooke's hand and sending her a reassuring smile.

"Did something happen?" she asked nervously, sitting up against the pillows.

Lucas found his hand clutched harder as the Doctor was silent for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts.

"It went about as well as expected," he began hesitantly. "For the most part, we were able to repair the damage of the glass, and the impact. However, due to where the glass pierced your body, it will probably be impossible for you to conceive again."

He stared at them as they slowly absorbed this.

"I'm sorry."

Brooke looked away from her husband, tears slowing welling in her eyes. Before this, she never would have imagined how very much this hurt her. How suddenly, inexplicably, so many doors seemed closed to her. Doors that after her fifth pregnancy, she'd never even considered wanting. Though they'd never discussed Bailey as their last, it had seemed like a foregone conclusion.

"Are you okay?" asked Brooke. Lucas looked down, surprised that the words hadn't first come from his mouth.

"Of course I'm okay. Are you?"

"I'm sorry. I never thought there'd be a day when I wasn't enough for you," she stated dully.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. "Do you honestly think that our five perfect, healthy kids aren't enough for me?"

"I don't think I ever thought we'd stop."

Lucas held her close to him again, suddenly remembering that although they had five perfect, healthy, kids, he had five. The timing on this could have been better.

For a moment, he selfishly wished that he hadn't come last night. They'd come so much closer to where he wanted them to be, and now it had all been thrown away.

Watching her stare into space, ignoring him, he wondered how much more she could take. And what, in the end, would break her.