Visiting hours had ended over an hour ago and neither Brooke nor Haley had come to say goodbye to her. Something pretty big had happened, that was obvious from Luke's distant behavior. Something was telling her that he was regretting what ever happened between the three of them, but he was talking about it, whatever it was.

She figured her plans for a slumber party were going to have to be put on hold, tonight just didn't seem like that right time anymore…everything had just gone to hell with her new decision.

"Luke…" she waited, waited for him to at least make eye contact with her, but he refused.

"So Brooke said something kinda interesting after you went to sleep…" so that's what it was…Brooke had let it slip and now he knew…he knew she was giving up.

"I'm sorry Luke…I wanted to be the one to tell you. But would it have made a difference if you heard it from me instead of her?" She watched as he finally looked up and met her gaze, tears already filling his blue eyes.

"No…it would still hurt just the same…I just don't get how you could quit like this. I know this is hard on you Peyt…I get that, I do…but the treatment was working, why not give it chance to keep working…a chance to make you better…" his voice was shaking as he grabbed her hand in his.

"I just don't wanna do this anymore Luke…I got sick right after Alex was born…6 years Luke…I've been doing this for close to 6 years…" she watched his face fall and she prayed the just maybe she was starting to get through to him.

"I'm sorry…" he didn't know what else to say to her. He had only seen her go through this for a year…not even, and that was painful enough…one year of seeing her like this had him asking where she found the strength to get out of bed in the morning. He just couldn't wrap his head around the idea of going through this 5 more times.

He was sorry, there was no doubt in her mind about that, but there was also no doubt that he was going to keep telling her to fight this. Lucas Scott was forever hopeful and she loved that about him, but she didn't want to argue with him, not tonight. "I'm tired Luke, I'm gunna go to sleep" She turned her body away from him and listened to the deep sigh that escaped his lips.

Any other time he would have slipped off his shoes and climbed into bed with her, but he could tell she didn't want that. And if hen was honest with himself he didn't want to wrap his arm around her, he didn't want her body pressed into his, he couldn't go through that knowing that she won't fight for herself, for him and Alex, knowing that she's done fighting for her family.

Peyton awoke the next morning to find Luke's arm wrapped around her waist, her back pressed comfortably against his chest. She knew she didn't fall asleep in that position, but she vaguely recalls him lying behind her a few hours later and whispering sorry in her hair.

"I screwed up yesterday…" she was startled when his voice penetrated the stillness of the room. Somehow he had always just known when she was awake in the mornings.

"What happened…" she snuggled in closer to him, desperate to smother that last bit of tension lingering between them.

"I said some things to Hales…I didn't mean them but I was so angry and I took it out on her. Peyt I think…I know I really hurt her."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad Luke…" she couldn't imagine him being cruel to his best friend, it just didn't seem like the Lucas she knew, he was rarely cruel to anyone.

"I accused her of wanting you to die…I said she never forgave you for everything with Alex and that she was okay with you giving up because she wanted you gone…" his voice was cracking more with each word. She turned to face him, the shock evident on her face.

"Lucas…." She didn't know how to respond to that as she turned to face him. She wanted to find something to say, anything to let him know that things would be okay, that Haley would forgive him because that's just the type of person she is, but the only thing she could really think about was the severe wave of nausea coming over her.

Lucas watched her face pale and immediately lifted himself from the bed. He had seen it happen enough times to know when she was going to get sick, and from how quickly she was losing color and how shallow her breathing was, he knew it was going to happened soon. Normally he would have carried her into the bathroom, but they had her hooked up to a fetal heart monitor, so moving her body wasn't an option. His eyes scanned the room quickly before landing on the deep plastic bowl sitting on the far table. The nurses had giving them a bowl like that before when they had her on bed rest, the bowl was there just in case of nausea.

Lucas grabbed the bowl before quickly returning to Peyton's bed and lifting her into a seated position. Her hand clung to the blanket on the bed as she heaved into the bowl held in front of her. It always hurt when she got sick, but the pain that ripped through her throat was worse than ever. She wanted to scream as she latched onto Luke's arm, but no sound came out. Her nails dug deeper into his skin as the pain got worse. Lucas looked down at her trembling figure, worry etched in his features. Something was wrong, she had never been in this much pain so suddenly, he could see the veins in her arm from how hard she was gripping both the bed and his arm.

He watched her head tilt back and her lips quiver as they parted. The tears slipped down her cheeks just as she broke through the skin of his arm, small beads of blood now sliding down his arm. He should have been in pain, but he couldn't feel anything as he watched her body hunch forward again, watched the thick red liquid that poured into the bowl in his hand. She had to vomit again before his mind started working and he screamed for help, his free hand stretching to jam on the nurse's call button continuously. His eyes shifted between the closed door and the woman on the bed vomiting blood. It seemed like an eternity before the room door finally opened, the nurse's initial aggravation at someone jamming on the call button this early subsiding when she noticed the gravity of the situation.

Luke turned back to face Peyton, she only paused to moan in pain for about ten seconds before vomiting again. A second nurse came and took the bowl from his hand as she stood on the other side of the bed. It looked like someone had squeezed an entire bottle of food coloring into the bowl he had been holding, a deep bowl that was already almost full.

"You're gunna get through this…" He leaned his head closer to hers, his free hand running up and down her back. "You have to get through this…" he was crying now, tears sliding quickly down his paling cheeks.

"What happened…" Lucas took his eyes off Peyton when he felt a hand grip his shoulder tightly. He looked into Dr. Collins's eyes before shaking his head.

"I don't know…she was fine one minute and then she just got really pale. She always gets like that when she's gunna be sick, so I didn't think anything of it until the second time she vomited and it was all blood."

"Get her up to the OR now and page one of the one call surgeons. Let's move people…" Dr. Collins pried Peyton's finger away from Luke's arm. Lucas watched as they wheeled Peyton's bed out of the room and down the hall. He was about to follow them when he felt a hand on his shoulder again.

"I have to go with her…" he protested as he turned to face the man who had been caring for Peyton for the past year…the man who was about to him that he would have to stay in the waiting room.

"Lucas, you know you can't stay with her. You need to go get you're arm taken care of and then you have to go sit and wait." Dr. Collins took a deep breath before continuing, an apologetic looks in place on his face. "Lucas, I need your permission to abort the baby. It was uncertain before whether she would be able to survive the pregnancy, but now, she's too weak. Her body can't handle the stress from the pregnancy. With all the blood loss, it's doubtful that the baby will survive, but I need to let the surgeon know to only worry about Peyton. If we don't abort now, I'm almost positive that she'll die within the next 24 hours. I'm sorry to just put this on you but…"

"Do whatever you have to do to save Peyton" he didn't need to hear anything else…for him there was no other option. She was his Peyton…she had to survive this.

"Okay…now go take care of your arm…" Dr. Collins gave his shoulder one more squeeze before starting out the room.

"She's going to be okay right…you have to tell me she's going to be okay Sam." He was desperate, and he needed this man to tell him thing's were going to be fine.

"We're going to do everything we can" The older man sighed deeply as he turned back to face the heartbroken man standing dejectedly in the center of the room.

"That's something you doctors say when things look bad and you wanna give people hope…false hope…"

"Lucas…"

"What could happen…what do you not wanna tell me, because I'd rather you tell me now, then maybe I'll be more prepared…maybe I can get ready for this and I'll know how many people I need to call, because you don't look good…you make this look like it's really bad so I'd prefer if you just tell me…" the blonde made his way closer to the doctor, his hands trembling more with each step.

"She threw up a lot of blood Lucas…she's…we're gunna do everything we can…" he knew better than say anything different to the distraught young man in front of him. He needed Lucas to keep it together…if he told about all the problems Peyton was at risk for Lucas would fall apart at the seems, he would spend all his time freaking out, and after watching the young man for the past year Sam knew any more news of potential complications would most likely send Lucas over the edge and push him into some kind of nervous breakdown. "We're gunna do everything we can…" he repeated before walking out of the room quickly.

"Mr. Scott…" Lucas had been staring at the door that Dr. Collins had walked out of for the past five minutes, but he didn't notice the other man that walked through it until his name was called. "Mr. Scott…my name's Ian, I really need to take a look at your arm." Lucas nodded slowly before following Ian out of the room and down the hall toward the elevator.

Ian led Lucas down to the ER and watched as the mindless blonde sat in the unoccupied chair of the exam room. "Dr. Lewis is one of the best surgeons on the coast, that's whose operating on your wife, so she's in really good hands." Ian offered a small smile as he sat down to begin bandaging Luke's arm.

"She's…we…we're not married…" the tears continued to slip down his cheeks as he stared off into space.

"Oh…I'm sorry…" Ian whispered as he continued wrapping the bandage.

"It's okay…you didn't know…" his blue eyes glanced down at his empty ring finger and he couldn't help but wonder whether he'd ever have a band occupying that space. He sat there for the next few minutes waiting for Ian to finish. Lucas mumbled a quick thank you before walking out of the exam room and back toward the elevators.

His mind was racing with too many thoughts, but the one that kept coming back to him was having to call people. Not only did he not want to be the one to give out bad news, he was on bad terms with Brooke and Haley right now, and if Haley had said anything at all to Nathan about what happened in the hallway, he and his brother would be on bad terms as well.

He was broken out of his thoughts when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He hesitantly grabbed it and looked down at the screen to see Brooke's name flashing. He had no idea what he was supposed to say to her, how was he supposed to tell her that Peyton was in surgery, and that she might not make it out…how could he tell her that after all the blame and anger and pain that had been thrown around yesterday.

He slowly opened his phone and placed the receiver to his ear, still uncertain of what to say. "Brooke…"

"Hey Lucas…I know things were really awkward when we all parted ways last night, but I just got this really bad feeling. I know it sounds stupid and I'm just being paranoid, but how's Peyton? I mean, I know she's probably still sleeping 'cause it's early, but how is she…" the brunette was rambling and she knew it, but she had jolted out of bed this morning with this disturbing feelings that something was about to go wrong. She waited for Lucas to say something, but he stayed quiet causing her stomach to drop. "Luke…I am just being paranoid right…please tell that I'm just being paranoid."

"Brooke…I think you should come down to the hospital…" he didn't know how to tell her, but he knew he couldn't tell her over the phone. "…and could you call Nate and Hales…" his voice faded slightly with the last question.

"Okay…" her voice was light, and she wanted nothing more than to go to the hospital and check on Peyton…another part of her wanted to go crawl into bed and pull the covers over her head an wait…wait for all of this to just go away…wait to wake up from this nightmare, this horrible horrid nightmare she was having. But she couldn't do that…she would have to call Haley and Nathan and tell them to get to the hospital…then she would have to get in her car and drive to the hospital herself…she would have to be there for Peyton and for Lucas because she didn't have to see him, she could hear it in his voice and she knew that he was close to falling apart. "I'll see you soon Luke…"

"Okay…" he whispered before hanging up the phone and making his way up to the OR waiting room. It took less than fifteen minutes for Brooke to sit down in the chair next to him, her hand instinctively reaching for his and holding on tightly.

"Nate said that he and Hales would be here in a few hours. They planned to take Alex to a movie and they don't wanna scare her by just bailing to come here…" she turned her neck to look at him and watched as his neck slowly turned as well until her met her gaze.

"Okay…" his voice was still the same whisper, his eyes still glazed over with unshed tears that they knew wouldn't stay unshed for long.

"Okay…"she nodded once before they both turned to face forward, their hands still glued together…and that's how they stayed…two broken people trying to help each other cope….both of them drowning, knowing the other is drowning too, and yet still, they're trying desperately to use each other to stay afloat.