Lucas followed the doctor down some hallways, and then the doctor turned to face Lucas.

"This is it." The doctor smiled

"Thank you." Lucas said. He hesitated to go in. "Is there anything I need to know before I go in there?"

"She was brought in with 2 other girls right?"

"Yes." Lucas nodded

"I'm not sure that she was told how they are. It might be best to hear about it from a close friend."

"Ok. Thanks."

"She doesn't look too horrible, but I will warn you that there are many cuts and some bruising. She's fine thought." The doctor smiled. "Excuse me." The doctor walked away

Lucas took a deep breath and entered the hospital room.

"You ok Brooke?" Haley asked as she sat in the chair next to Brooke

"No Haley. I'm the exact opposite of ok. Everything is insanely fucked up right now. I can't help thinking about how things ended up this way. I keep asking myself 'what if'. What if I had fought my parents to stay down here. What if I had been a better girlfriend to Peyton when I was in New York? What if-"

"Brooke, look at me." Haley said and Brooke turned to look her in the eye. "This is not your fault. You can ask yourself a million 'what ifs', but it doesn't matter. You can't go back to change things; however, you can change how things will go in the future." Haley offered Brooke a smile

"I don't think I can live without her Haley. These past couple weeks of things being rough have literally broken my heart." Brooke whispered. "I can't lose her; not with the way things are between us." Brooke began to cry

"Brooke, she knows how you feel. She feels the same way. Peyton loves you Brooke, nothing has ever changed that." Haley said as she hugged Brooke as Brooke cried

Lucas slowly walked into the room, closing the door carefully behind him. He turned to look at Sydney, who was laying on her side, sleeping, and felt a rush of emotion. He walked further into the room, and sat in a chair next to the bed. Pulling it close to the bed, Lucas began to softly stroke Sydney's hair.

"Lucas?" Sydney whispered as her eyes began to flutter open

"Hey Syd. I'm here." Lucas said happily, tears running down his cheeks

Sydney looked at Lucas and smiled. "Hey handsome."

"Hey gorgeous. You gave us a pretty big scare."

Sydney smiled. "Had to get your attention somehow." She joked

"You know, a slap across the face is usually pretty effective also."

"I'll remember that for next time." Sydney finally got serious. "How bad was the wreck? I don't remember it too well."

"I don't know." Lucas shook his head. "Pretty bad, I'm guessing."

Sydney's eyes filled with tears. "Are they ok? Peyton and Taylor?" She whispered, hoping if she was quiet enough that everything would be ok

"They're in pretty bad shape Syd." Lucas took a hold of Sydney's hand as he went on to tell her the other two girl's injuries

"Are they going to wake up?" Sydney asked when Lucas had finished

"We're hoping. The doctors are doing everything that they can to help them." Lucas said, trying to stay strong for his girlfriend

Sydney nodded and took a deep breath. "I'm so tired Luke."

Lucas sat up and kissed Sydney's head. "Go to sleep. I'll let you know if anything changes with Peyton and Taylor."

"Ok." Sydney said right before she fell to sleep

Lucas looked at his girlfriend, and sighed as he walked out of the room. Dear God, help the girls to make it out of this ok. Please. Lucas begged in a silent prayer

7:00 p.m.

"Brooke." Lucas said softly as he gently shook Brooke's shoulder

Brooke jolted awake. "Peyton?" She asked hopefully

Lucas shook his head. "We still havent heard anything. I'm sorry to get your hopes up. I was just going to ask if you wanted to go to my house and lay down for a while. You've been here all day after driving all night, and nothing has changed. It might be best to get some sleep now."

"No. I don't want to leave." Brooke yawned

"Brooke, Lucas is right. You have to get some sleep. It would be best to do it now before Peyton and Taylor wake up and everything gets crazy." Haley said. "In fact, Nathan and I are leaving to go take a quick nap before my parents get in town."

Brooke sighed. "Ok." She said hesitantly." You guys are probably right."

"If anything does change, I'll call you." Lucas said

"Thanks Lucas." Brooke smiled

11:30 p.m.

Brooke slowly began stirring from her nap a few hours later, glad she had taken everyone's advice and laid down. Although she only slept 4 hours, she felt completely refreshed.

Brooke climbed out of the bed and walked out of Lucas' room. She found Karen drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

"Hey Brooke. Did you sleep ok?" Karen smiled at the younger woman

"Yes I did. Thanks for letting me come over to lay down."

"Of course. Would you like some coffee."

"No thanks. Coffee makes me antsy, and I think that I'm anxious enough to last a lifetime." Brooke laughed a little

"Did you want to head back to the hospital now, or would you like to hang around here for a little while. I'll drive you up there whenever you are ready. I was going to go and talk to Lydia and Jim and see if they need anything."

"I take it the James' got here?" Brooke asked and Karen nodded. "I would like to get up there as soon as I can, so whenever you are ready, so am I." Brooke smiled

"Why don't you sit for a couple minutes so we can talk. We haven't talked in so long."

"Am I in trouble?" Brooke joked

"I was just going to ask how you have been."

Brooke sighed as she sat down. "Things have been so complicated lately. My emotions are all over the place."

"Well what's been going on?"

Brooke rested her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands. "Everything?"

"Brooke, I'm not trying to pry. You don't have to talk to me." Karen patted the younger woman's shoulder. "If you would like to talk later, I'm here for you." Karen stood. "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital."

Brooke looked up from Karen, and a tear fell down her cheek. "I love her Karen. I love her so much. How did we screw things up so bad?"

"Brooke, love is a hard thing when you're young. People change as they grow up, and you and Peyton are at a hard place in your lives. Your whole futures are right in front of you, and its going to make it hard on any relationship." Karen walked over to Brooke and knelt in front of her. "Through this time apart, neither of you have stopped loving the other, and I think that is incredible."

"I wasn't alone when we broke-up. I moved on, even though I loved Peyton. Why would she take me back if she knew that?" Brooke said quietly

"Would you take her back if she had done what you did?"

Brooke nodded. "Without a doubt."

Karen smiled. "Then I'm sure Peyton would do the same. You'll get it worked out Brooke. But no matter what, you need to be a friend to her right now. You have been there for each other through everything, and she is definitely going to need a friend when she wakes up."

"At this point, I'll do anything or be anything she needs. I just want her to wake up. I want her to know how much I care about her."

"I think she already knows that sweetie." Karen said, offering Brooke a comforting smile

Brooke took a deep breath. "Ok. Lets go see how they are doing."