Chapter Eleven-Her favorite flower was an orchid

The casket was decorated with white and purple flowers. Brooke loved orchids. She lay peacefully, smiling with her eyes open and staring at the world she no longer graced. Nathan laid his head down on the side of the casket and cried. He loved her. He couldn't admit it to her while she was alive, but right now he knew. He loved her more than life it's self.

Haley stood next to him, holding his hand tightly in hers. She had no idea how much he loved her.

Brooke suddenly moved. Her body jolted up from the casket and stared straight into Nathan's eyes. She looked down and saw Haley's hand entwined in Nathan's and swung her hand around to slap him. He fell to the ground. He felt Haley shaking him, telling him to wake up.

"Nathan, wake up!" she yelled for the last time.

Nathan jumped and found Haley staring at him. "Brooke?" he asked looking around. He was in his hotel room. He had been dreaming.

"Nathan they found Brooke!" Haley cried to him. "They found her."

Nathan looked at her still trying to decide if he was dreaming. "Is she okay?" he choked, deciding this was his real life.

"She's okay. She's not speaking to anybody." She explained. "They found her on the beach beaten up pretty badly. They thought she was dead. Apparently she had a lot of bruises but she refused to speak to anybody."

Nathan climbed out of the bed and threw on his dirty clothes from the night before. He was unsure how he had fallen asleep in the first place. When he got to the Nassau headquarters he found Brooke laying on a cot in the dark. She wasn't alone in the room. A Nassau guard was at the end of her bed and Peyton was next to him asleep in a chair. The guard quickly stood up when Nathan entered the room with Haley. Lucas, Tim and Jake weren't far behind them. He quickly made them leave the room so he could get identification from them. He told them they could only enter two at a time, and since Peyton was already in there, only one of them could go in.

Nathan told everyone he was going first. He sat down next to Peyton and looked at Brooke asleep on the cot. "Hey beautiful." He whispered. She didn't answer him. "I know you're sleeping and I don't want to wake you up. There were just a couple things I wanted to tell you." He could feel tears falling from his eyes. "I'm so sorry Brooke. I didn't realize it until this morning but, I love you. And I'm sorry for the way I treated you in the bathroom. Haley told me about you and Chris in New York. I was upset. I shouldn't have acted that way. I've just been so confused lately with my divorce, and with you, with graduation. I never wanted to admit it, but I'm just so scared Brooke. And then you disappeared. I thought I would never see you again. I can't handle loosing you!"

Nathan stopped talking and noticed Peyton awake watching him. "That was really nice of you." She said smiling. "She's going to be okay. The guard said she's in shock from what happened. When she snaps out of it she'll start talking again."

Nathan looked down at the bruises on her arms and legs. "Did he… rape her?" he choked.

Peyton shook her head no. "The guard said he just beat her up pretty badly. Apparently he must have thought he killed her so he stopped."

Nathan closed his eyes. He couldn't imagine the horrible thought of that man beating her to death. "Thank God she's okay."

Brooke didn't wake up until after everyone had come in and talked to her. When she sat up the only person in the room was Nathan. The guard had been standing outside the door having a conversation with the woman Nathan and Tim had found on the beach. They need more information to catch the guy.

Brooke looked into Nathan's eyes in pain. "Hi," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." He told her. "I'm the one that should be sorry."

She told him that she could hear him while he was talking to her earlier during her rest. She hadn't said anything because she felt like she could physically move. She agreed to talk to the guard to try and catch the guy. She just needed time.

"Do you mind taking me back to your hotel room?" she begged him holding his hand tightly in hers. Nathan agreed. Haley was in the room when Nathan set Brooke on his bed.

"Haley, do you mind staying with Lucas tonight?" he asked.

Haley rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable." She sighed.

Nathan was becoming really angry with her. "Have a little sensitivity." He scolded her as she left. "One of our friends almost died."

"One of your friends," Haley corrected him. "I know that something's going on between you two."

Brooke weakly looked at Haley in tears. "Haley, fuck off." She swore.

Haley stared back in surprise. She had never heard Brooke swear before. Not only that, she called her Haley instead of tutor girl. She shut the door behind her and left the room.

When Brooke woke up she expected to see Nathan. Instead she saw Lucas. He was holding her arm and touching her hair lightly. "Good morning."

"Lucas?" she asked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Nathan went to grab you something to eat for when you woke up." He told her. "He asked me to stay with you."

"What was he thinking?" she joked.

"Hey." Lucas said pretending to be hurt. "I'm sorry for what I said to you the other day. I shouldn't have."

"It's okay." She accepted. "Regardless of what she did to me, I can't see Peyton get hurt like that."

Lucas nodded. "Peyton is in love with Jake still."

"What?"

"I can tell. I can see it in her eyes. The worst part is though. I'm not upset."

Nathan came back with donuts, cookies, toast, popcorn and cheez-its. "Good morning." He smiled interrupting the conversation the two of them were having.

"How long was I asleep?" Brooke asked.

"You slept all day and all night." Nathan told her. "You were exhausted."

"What a vacation." She muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't even say that." Lucas scolded.

"Where is Peyton?"

"She's asleep still." Lucas told her. "She's really beat. She stayed with you as long as possible. She's been really great about this."

"Thank her for me?" she asked him. Lucas nodded and left the room so Nathan could be alone with her.

"Nathan." Brooke whispered. "Can we just stay in the room all day?" she asked softly. "I don't really feel like going anywhere."

"We can." Nathan told her, "But first you're going to have to talk to the guard." Brooke agreed, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do.