Author's Note: Apologies for the delay in the update. I had exams all through January and there were other fics and projects I was working on that had to be done before this. Plus, I rewrote this chapter three times before I decided to go in a whole new direction. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6: Unity

The next morning Brooke rose early. The previous night, she had helped Lucas clean up after the fight and the two had quickly fallen asleep on his bed as they realised just how exhausted they were.

Brooke changed into some clean clothes – she could grab a shower at Peyton's – and watched Lucas sleep. She grimaced as she noted the bruises on his ribs from where Felix had kicked him. Brooke and Lucas had argued over whether Lucas should get X-rayed and make sure no ribs were broken, but Lucas told her that they were harmless bruises that would heal in a couple of weeks.

He also had attained bruises and cuts on his face, which Brooke placed band-aids on if needed. She sighed quietly as she wrote a quick note explaining she was at Peyton's and he was to pick them up before school.

She placed a quick kiss on his forehead and slipped out the back door, deciding that it would be best to walk the short distance. At 5am, no-one would be up and Brooke enjoyed the fresh air.

Brooke knocked on Peyton's door before finding the spare key blue-tacked onto the doorframe and letting herself in.

"Yo, P. Sawyer!" she unapologetically yelled as she bounded up the stairs. She jumped on Peyton's bed, startling the blonde.

"Brooke… what are you doing here?" Peyton asked as she settled back into bed. Brooke tucked herself into the covers next to her friend.

"I made a promise to my bestest friend that I would be here before school, and I am," Brooke explained.

"Brooke, it's 5.15am. School doesn't start for almost another two hours."

"True. But I wanted to see you. We haven't talked to each other in weeks!" Brooke reminded her.

"I'll talk to you later." Peyton said as she pulled the covers over her head.

"Not so fast, missy. You and I need some time to chat and we're going to do it now!" Brooke pulled the covers back and Peyton groaned, finally relenting.

"Fine! I'm not going to get any sleep with you around anyway," she sat up in her bed and faced her friend who just grinned. "I just… I don't know how to tell you without upsetting you, or hurting you, or making you angry."

"Peyton, you know you can tell me anything, okay? I'm your best friend." Peyton nodded and sighed.

"Okay. First off, I want to apologise to you for my behaviour last night. I know all you, Lucas and Nathan were doing was trying to take care of me and I kind of acted… mean and bitchy."

"Totally forgotten about." Brooke told her, "all I care about is that you can tell me now"

Peyton gave Brooke a grateful smile before beginning, "Last night Felix and Anna threatened to spread some rumours around school about me."

"What kind of rumours?" Brooke asked.

"That I was gay," Brooke looked a little taken aback by it so Peyton quickly added, "which I'm not, by the way, so don't worry." Brooke's features softened as she realised what Peyton thought.

"Oh no, Peyton! I wasn't stunned by that. I don't care if you're gay, bi or straight; you know that. I was just surprised that you let them get to you." Brooke shuffled on the bed and held Peyton's hands.

"How many times have we heard rumours about either of us? You know that there's some new 'scandal' every week at our school and they're never true."

"That's not the point, Brooke. They had evidence."

"Evidence? How could they have evidence of you?" Brooke asked.

"Anna kissed me and Felix took a photo," Peyton explained as she saw Brooke's mouth and eyes widen in disbelief.

"Serious?" Peyton nodded, "Maybe Anna is gay" Brooke suggested. Peyton shrugged.

"I don't know. And I don't care. The fact is that if I go to school today, those pictures will be everywhere and I don't have the strength to defend myself. How can I compete with photographic evidence?"

Brooke thought for a moment and looked down at Peyton's hands, noticing for the first time the bluish ring around her wrist.

"How did you get that?" Brooke questioned running a finger gently over it. Peyton immediately retracted her hand away, "Peyton!"

"Don't worry about it."

"No, I am worrying about it because I have my own cuts and bruises from a certain stain of an ex-boyfriend, not to mention the fact Lucas has too! Did Felix do it?" Brooke asked. Peyton merely nodded, "What? I'm going to kill him…"

"Brooke, calm down. It's nothing really. Not compared to what happened to you. He just grabbed my wrist when I was at your house getting some clothes for you. I managed to get away and it seems to be healing."

"That's so not the point, Peyton. Why didn't you tell me?" Peyton turned away from Brooke and got off the bed.

"Because…" she began, "you had your own problems with him and I didn't want to be a burden"

"You could never be a burden. You know that if I had a problem, I'd come to you,"

"But you didn't, Brooke!" Peyton almost yelled, "You went to Lucas. I didn't even know until he told me. You've spent the last few nights at his house and you know that you could have come here. And you didn't."

Brooke suddenly felt guilty as she realised she'd unknowingly kept her best friend out of her life, especially when she needed help.

"Peyton, I'm sorry. I didn't know what was going through my head at the time. I didn't tell Lucas, he found out on his own. And so I figured since Lucas already knew, he could keep me safe. I was just too ashamed to tell anyone that Brooke Davis was being beaten up by her boyfriend. I really am sorry," she apologised.

Now it was Peyton's turn to feel guilty as she accused Brooke of being a bad friend.

"I'm sorry too," Peyton said. Brooke laughed as she struggled to stop the tears that threatened to fall.

"Look at us. P. Sawyer and Brooke Davis crying over some bastard who had the nerve to hit them. We shouldn't be doing this. We should be stronger. We arestronger than this."

Peyton nodded in return and hugged Brooke.

"Go take a shower and get ready. We're both going to school today and we're going to face Felix and Anna and show them who the boss is. Nobody gets away with hurting my best friend"

"Ditto." Peyton smiled as she bounded off into the bathroom in high spirits.

Brooke watched and felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. As she picked up the phone and dialled a number, she smiled. This was one day Felix would never forget.

-

Lucas knocked on Nathan's door twice before ringing the doorbell. Eventually a sleepy Nathan opened the door.

"Dude, it's 6am. What are you doing here? And what happened to your face?"

"I'll tell you later. Brooke called. She found out what happened to Peyton." Lucas said as he closed the door behind him and sat down on Nathan's couch.

"Oh, right. What was wrong?" Nathan asked as he pulled on a t-shirt. Lucas was about to talk when Haley walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey, Luke. What are you doing here?" she questioned, surprised to see her best friend at her house so early in the morning.

"Visiting my little brother and sis-in-law. Haven't seen you around lately." Lucas commented. Haley looked guiltily at Nathan and then at Lucas.

"I've been working."

"Oh right… your music. How is it going?" Lucas asked casting a discreet glance at Nathan.

"It's okay. I'm going to make breakfast. Want some?" Lucas nodded and watched as Haley disappeared into the kitchen area.

"Nice" Nathan said as sat next to Lucas.

"This Chris thing has really driven a wedge between you, hasn't it?" Lucas said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah, well, we don't seem to see eye to eye when it comes to Mr Rock Star. I'm fed up of him putting ideas into her head. She's better off without him."

"At least it's nothing to do with Felix. You should count yourself lucky." Lucas sighed.

"What's he done now?"

"Apparently everything. He hurt Peyton and he and Anna are supposed to be spreading lesbian rumours about Peyton today," Lucas explained.

"So, it's only rumours. No big deal."

"Well, Felix has… photographic evidence of Peyton and Anna."

"Whoa, what now?"

"It's not what it looks like, really. Anna and Felix planned it so it looked like Peyton was kissing Anna. It's complicated."

"So I see," Nathan said dryly. At that point Haley came with a plate of toast in her hand and placed it on the coffee table.

"What's going on?" she asked when she saw the looks on their faces. As Lucas filled Haley in, in between bites of toast, while Nathan grabbed a quick shower.

Just as he emerged with fresh clothes on, Lucas was coming to the end of the story.

"I can't believe Felix would do that to Brooke. And those rumours about Peyton? How long has this been going on?"

"Almost a week."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You would have known about it if you bothered to spend more time at home." Nathan commented. Haley cast a glance at her husband.

"I'm sorry, but Chris and I are working on something, he says that I could further my career if I stuck with him."

"I'm sure he does." Nathan said, choosing not to look his wife in the eye. Haley opened her mouth to say something but Nathan interrupted with a question for Lucas, "So what's going to happen?"

Lucas looked between the two before answering, "Uh...well, Brooke says she has a plan. We've got to go to Peyton's as soon as possible and she'll fill us in. Are we ready?" he asked. Nathan and Haley nodded and grabbed their coats as Lucas told them he'd be in the car.

As he left the apartment, he let out a deep breath. The honeymoon was really over for the newlyweds.

-

At roughly 7am, twenty minutes before lessons began, two cars pulled up side by side in the car park. The rest of the students watched as five teenagers climbed out of the vehicles. Brooke has decided to not cover up her bruises and opted for light, subtle make-up instead. Proudly bearing her battle scars, along with Peyton and Lucas, she led the group into the school.

She could already hear the students gossiping about her appearance and it made her hold her head that much higher. Carefully wedged in between Lucas and Peyton, with Nathan on Peyton's side and Haley on Lucas'.

They quickly spotted Felix and Anna by Peyton's locker. When the siblings saw the gang approach them, Felix immediately rolled his eyes.

"What is this?" he asked as Brooke stood in front of him. He tried not to show his discomfort and smirked at them instead, "You trying to be like the Power Rangers or something?"

Brooke ignored his comment, "I know what you're trying to do, Felix, and we're here to stop it because, frankly, we've had it with you."

"Sorry, Pink Ranger, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Brooke sighed and put her hands on her hips, "I think you do, Felix. Are you telling me you weren't going to spread rumours about my best friend around the school?" she motioned to Peyton.

"Who says they're not true?"

"It doesn't matter if they are or not. The point is, we know your game and we're sick of it. We realise that you're new, and stupid, but this isn't how we do things in Tree Hill. If you want to spread rumours, you need proof."

"I have proof."

"What's your point? You think people are going to care about anything that comes out of the mouth of a woman beater?"

There was a collective gasp from the student body that had crowded around to see what was going on.

"That's right. I have the proof right here," she pointed to her face, "and there," Peyton exposed her wrist, "and of course, your newest venture, Lucas." Lucas pointed to his face and then lifted up his shirt slightly so people could see the bruises there.

Felix's eyes narrowed and Anna looked at him.

"Felix? Did you really-" she began. He silenced her by putting a hand in front of her face.

"That's stupid. No one is going to believe that I did it. It's just my word against yours."

"I would have believed that a few days ago when I thought I was alone. But I'm not. I don't have to be weak, because I'm not weak. I know that no-one, whether a man or a woman or a child, should ever put up with somebody who makes them feel weak. Who hits them because it's fun, or because they like to have that kind of power."

Brooke stared at Felix right in the eyes and inched closer to his face, tip-toeing slightly so she was level with him.

"I thought that it was me who had a problem, but I realise now that it's you who has a problem. A big one. And you better sort it out before you really get yourself into trouble." Brooke told him.

Felix's jaw tightened as he realised that everyone was now looking at him.

"This isn't over," he warned Brooke.

"Yes it is," she replied. Everyone watched as Felix made his way through the crowd and stormed out of the school. Anna stared after him and was about to follow her brother when Brooke stopped her.

"Anna," Anna turned around to face the five people standing in front of her, "I know what you and Felix tried to do to Peyton,"

Anna looked guiltily at her feet and was grateful that the crowd was now dispersing.

"I had no idea what he did to you. Any of you," she apologised. She opened her bag and retrieved an envelope, "here you go" she said, handing it to Peyton, "That's all the pictures. I… I really didn't want to go through with it but I was so mad at Lucas and Brooke and then when Felix told me that Peyton was in on it too, I felt… betrayed," she explained.

Peyton accepted the envelope gratefully.

"I'm going to see if Felix is okay. I'm really sorry," Anna apologised again as she turned away from the group and left the school.

Brooke let out a deep breath and faced her friends.

"How do you feel?" she asked Peyton. Peyton grinned.

"A lot better, thanks to you, B. Davis. How about you?" she asked linking arms with her best friend. Brooke shrugged.

"Better. Felt nice to tell him off but… I'm just glad I have my friend back." She hugged Peyton, "shall we burn those?" she asked gesturing to the photos in her hand. Peyton nodded. "Cool. Then I suggest we get together at the beach and have ourselves a little victory party. What do you think?"

The group nodded and Nathan suggested sleeping over at the beach house, which seemed to delight everyone.

"Then it's settled, we'll meet at 6pm and I'm counting on everybody to attend. Even you, Tutor Girl," she said to Haley, who blushed slightly. "Come on, Broody," Brooke said to Lucas as she left Peyton's side and linked her arms with his, "It's time for English."

Nathan kissed Haley on the cheek before joining Peyton on their way to Study Hall. Haley opened her locker to grab some books. As she did, she noticed a piece of paper that had been stuffed through the locker. She read the note from Chris, asking her to come down to the studio to work on their demo at 6pm.

She let out a deep sigh. Nathan wasn't going to be very happy and since they were already having problems due to the excessive times she seemed to be spending with Chris, this would only drive a deeper wedge in between the two.

To be continued…

Coming up:
- The beach party.
- Nathan and Haley fight.
- Brooke and Lucas talk