It was a beautiful October morning in Tree Hill, North Carolina, and everyone and everything was silent, with a quiet wind barely rustling some leaves. Brooke, Lucas, and Madison Scott were all asleep in their warm beds, without a care in the world.

That was the scene Brooke wished she had woken up to. That was the scene she had wished was true instead of the horrible October 17th she was having. Brooke had woken up to find blood all over Maddie's bed and Madison hacking up a storm, and she had been rushed to the emergency room immediately. Right now, she was sitting in the waiting lounge, waiting for news on Madison's condition. Tears were leaking out of Brooke's eyes, as well as Lucas's. Everyone else was sitting there, tense, faces streaked with tears, the little kids in shock and worried about Madison and the grown ups not sure what to think. Brooke was shaking silently, with Lucas's arm protectively around her.

"Brooke, she'll be ok. Don't cry Brooke" Lucas said, wiping a tear from his cheek and stroking Brooke's brunette hair. Honestly, Lucas couldn't bring himself to look at Brooke right now, she reminded him too much of Madison.

"Mrs. Scott?" the doctor said, coming out of the room.

"Yah?"

"You can see Madison if you want right now. She's sleeping but she seems fine" the doctor reassured, hugging Brooke.

"Thank you" Lucas said, creeping into the room with Brooke. The sight of his baby girl lying there with every whatnot tube attached to her little arms broke his heart.

"Hey baby" Brooke said, leaning over and kissing her daughter's forehead. "How you feeling? Better?" she asked, stroking Madison's hair. "Mommy loves you" Brooke said softly, holding her hand and caressing it. "Fight like hell for mommy and kick this infection in the butt, ok?" Brooke whispered, letting a tear escape and fall down her cheek. Madison stirred but stayed asleep. Lucas was too choked up to say anything so he just held Madison's hand and exchanged worrisome looks with Brooke. Madison cracked open an eye 10 minutes later and smiled feebly at the sight of Brooke and Lucas.

"Mama?"

"Yes baby?"

"I love you" she said.

"I love you too…now get some sleep" Brooke said quietly, stroking her forehead. Madison squeezed Lucas's hand and fell asleep almost immediately, her breathing even.

"Mr. and Mrs. Scott?" the nurse asked.

"Yes?"

"The doctor would like to talk to you"

"Ok"

"Mr. and Mrs. Scott" the doctor said, smiling. Brooke didn't get how he was smiling at a time like this.

"Yes?"

"Take a seat. I would like to discuss Madison's current condition with you. She is very tiny for her age. She seems like she eats enough and she's by no means a victim of malnutrition, but the real problem is her appetite" the doctor explained. "She seems to not have an appetite at all, which is not uncommon for children her age. And she seems to have a weak immune system. You said she had been getting a lot of colds? It seems that those were the result of her immune system. Now don't worry, she's a growing child, we expect her immune system to strengthen greatly over the next few years. So that's not a field of concern. Her infection seems to have been a result of an immune system problem and she coughed up blood in her nose, not blood in her body" the doctor explained calmly. "I'd like to discuss some of the machines that we have here. Madison is hooked up to a heart monitor that monitors her heart rate. She is not on a respirator, she is breathing normally by herself. Also, we have fluids hooked up to her. She needs her sleep and we do not feel it proper to wake her every hour for fluids, so we have a machine dispensing it. And we have monitors making sure she's doing just fine" the doctor smiled and placed his hand on the desk. "This is a scary time for you, I understand. As afraid as you are right now, I beg for you to think how hard it is on Madison. She's probably terrified. The team needs you to be brave and not freak out in front of her. We need a calm patient and calm parents and we'll all be ok" the doctor said. Brooke and Lucas nodded and thanked the doctor and walked out.

"I can't believe this is happening" Brooke sobbed into Lucas's shoulder. "It's all my fault"

"No, Brooke, don't ever say that again! It is NOT your fault! Madison did not get sick because of you" Lucas said firmly, pulling Brooke into an embrace. "No one is to blame but nature…please, don't do this to yourself, Brooke" Lucas whispered. "We're both scared, but lets be strong…for Madison" Brooke nodded and buried her head in Lucas's chest and sobbed quietly, and Lucas stood there with his arms around her and his head buried in her hair.

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"I cant believe Maddie's sick" Peyton said, a tear slipping down her cheek. "I'm so scared for Brooke and Lucas" she said. Everyone was sitting in Karen's lounge, talking. Occasionally someone would say something about eating but no one really acted on it. Catherine was clutching her teddy bear tightly, residing in Jake's arms, upset that Madison was sick. Anthony was with his dad, his face buried in his dads shoulder. Nathan was worried about Anthony and how shell shocked he was. He remembered the time when Anthony was upset that Madison got a "boo boo" under his watch.

"Maddie gonna be ok daddy?" Catherine asked.

"Uh…yah sweetie" Jake answered, glancing at Peyton and leaning back against the couch. No one knew what to do. None of them wanted to eat, or sleep, or do anything but sit there and wait. What they were waiting for was something none of them could answer.

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"Mrs. Scott" the doctor rushed out of the room. Brooke and Lucas looked up anxiously. "Madison's heart monitor's gone down and we cant get a pulse anywhere" he said panicked. Brooke felt her stomach drop. "She is what we call clinically dead" he choked out. "But the heart recession was caught early enough to be reversed…we're working on getting her back" Brooke sobbed into Lucas shoulder and he felt tears run down in streams down his cheeks as he stood there, hoping and praying that they'd be able to get Madison back.

"She was an angel, Lucas" Brooke sobbed.

"Don't say was, Brooke" Lucas said, holding her tightly to him.

"She was an angel and now God wants his angel back" Brooke sobbed. Lucas didn't know how to answer so he just held Brooke tightly. Lucas cried into her hair and they just stood there for a little while and didn't know what to do. The doctor emerged 40 minutes later from the room, sweaty and exhausted.

"Look's like Madison's ok, Mr. and Mrs. Scott…we revived her, and she's on a respirator now but she'll be breathing normally for sure by the end of the hour, and she looks like she sustained no brain damage. Your girl is a fighter"

"I know she is" Brooke whispered, wiping a tear and sitting down. She finally cracked a smile for the first time in the last 10 hours. "She's gonna be ok" she said.

"Yah, she is" Lucas said, hugging Brooke. "She'll be just fine"

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The phone rang and Peyton leaped to get it. Everyone watched Peyton's facial expressions change from upset to alarmed to devastated to happy. She hung up the phone and announced the good news.

"Madison almost died. She was declared clinically dead" Peyton said. "But they revived her because all of the systems in her body hadn't shut down just yet. So she's kicking now…she's sleeping and they say she'll be perfectly fine…just a little weak"

"Omg such good news" Haley said, and everyone hugged and then everyone seemed to realize that they hadn't eaten in 10 hours so they all decided to go to McDonalds and get themselves and Brooke and Lucas something to eat. They showed up at the hospital and they sat down with Brooke and Lucas in the café to eat.

"I'm so glad she's gonna be ok…that was scary" Brooke said, still in shock from the days events. Lucas was quiet, thinking about Madison and how they almost lost her forever. Karen had her arm around Lucas and looked concerned for his health as well. She knew this was hard on Lucas, harder than it seemed to be on anyone.

Brooke glanced at Lucas and motioned for him to get up. They walked over to the lounge with comfortable sofas, and sat down. Lucas looked at Brooke.

"I'm still recovering from the shock, Brooke, I can't handle it" Lucas said.

"I know…something could go wrong again"

"No…don't say that" Lucas said, pulling Brooke into his arms. They both sat there, sitting, thinking, letting silent tears drop down their faces, hoping that everything would be ok.

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"Mr. and Mrs. Scott?" the doctor said, coming out of the room quietly.

"Yah?" Brooke looked up quickly, braced for more horrible news.

"I think Madison would like to see you, and you may stay with her in her room tonight" he said. Brooke nodded joyously, walking into the room where Madison looked wide awake and slightly frightened by all the tubes now that she knew what was going on.

"Hey baby" Brooke said, coming over and kissing Madison's forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"I's better" Madison smiled, taking Brooke's hand and giggling. Brooke smiled herself, hearing Madison's giggle made it seem like everything was going to be ok.

"Hey princess" Lucas said, regaining his composure.

"Daddy!" Madison said.

"My princess…how are you?"

"I just told mommy, silly! I's better" she giggled. "How's Target?" Hearing that made Lucas smile wider than he had smiled over the past month.

"Target is bigger than ever, waiting for you to come buy it out!" Lucas laughed.

"That's good, tell it to stay"

"I will princess"

"Mommy, what's this?" Madison asked, holding up the IV hooked to her hand. For Brooke, she had to resolve an internal conflict really fast. She knew she had promised never to lie to Maddie about something important, but she didn't wanna scare her either.

"It's an IV, baby. It makes sure that you get plenty to drink"

"Oh…and this?"

"See those lines? They tell the doctors and mommy and daddy that your heart is beating just fine"

"It looks like mountains"

"That means your heart is as strong as a mountain!" Lucas said.

"Really?"

"Uh huh"

"Target sells mountains?"

"No Maddie, sweetie, Target doesn't sell mountains" Brooke laughed, kissing Madison on the forehead. "Are you tired baby?"

"No" she said.

"Ok…well does Maddie wanna do?"

"Target!"

"Baby I wish I could take you" Brooke whispered. "But I'll buy you lots of pretty things, ok?"

"Ok" Madison smiled, looking sleepy.

"Ok teddy bear, get your rest" Lucas said, covering her with a blanket and shutting off the light. Him and Brooke crept slowly out of the room and sat down on the couch.

"She seems normal" Lucas said.

"She was talking about Target that means she's normal" Brooke laughed. "Lucas I couldn't have ever done this without you" Brooke sighed, leaning her head against Lucas's shoulder. "Ever"

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Over at the temporary Tagarro residence

"So you decided to come back, huh?"

"Well what the hell was I gonna do in Charleston?"

"Meet lesbians!" Felix offered. Anna shot him a nasty look and took a soda out of the fridge.

"Did you hear about Brooke and Lucas's kid? She like nearly died in the hospital"

"Oh no! Is she ok?" Anna asked.

"Why do you care, I thought you wanted Lucas" Felix said. "Oh wait, you're a dyke"

"Shut up Felix" Anna snapped. "I'm gonna go see her in the hospital"

"Can I come?"

"Uh, definitely not. You'd get beat up again" Anna said with a slight snicker in her voice, pointing at the still visible bruises from two months ago.

"Shut up" Anna shook her head and ran a brush through her hair. She stopped to grab a quick present and then drove to the hospital.

Brooke and Lucas were playing with Madison, all three laughing and giggling. The nurse knocked on the door. "You have a visitor" she said. Brooke and Lucas fully expected it to be the family members, but Anna walked timidly into the room. Brooke gasped but then clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Hi…look before you kick me out, I heard about little Madison and I just wanted to drop by and see how she's doing" Anna said, placing the present on the table. Brooke got up and hugged Anna.

"Thanks for coming, Anna, that means a lot to us"

"No problem…how's she doing?"

"Better than before" Brooke said. "Much better"

"That's good…how are you two doing?"

"We're just tired, but we wanna keep an eye on Madison because well…" Brooke trailed off.

"Yah I understand. Ok I won't bother you any longer, but I hope she feels better soon" Anna said, hugging Lucas and Brooke.

"Thanks for coming Anna" Brooke smiled.

"No problem" she shut the door softly behind her. Brooke glanced at Lucas.

"That was interesting" she commented.

"I know" Lucas laughed. He pulled Brooke into his arms and they both fell asleep, thoroughly exhausted.

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The next morning, everyone showed up at the hospital to see Madison, bring gifts, and give Brooke and Lucas a break. Madison was doing well, the respirator was completely unhooked now, and she was breathing normally, on her own. The fluids were still hooked up, but that was better than a heart monitoring machine, Brooke told herself.

"The doctor would like to see you" the nurse informed Brooke and Lucas. Brooke nodded and followed Lucas out the door.

"Mr. and Mrs. Scott, I would like to discuss the long term effects this may have on Madison. As I explained to you earlier, she has a weak immune system. She will have a week immune system for the next 6 months. She's going to be on medication which I've prescribed, and that will hopefully prevent any future attacks like this. Over the next six months, it will be a joint responsibility to make sure she exercises, eats heartily, and importantly, remains a normal three year old. I would strongly discourage isolating her from other children, because that does more damage than help in my experience. Just be careful, but treat her normally, like you did before. Give her a 2 month resting period, but after that, you may enroll her in sports or any other activities. She's a fighter, she'll be fine" the doctor smiled. "We plan on discharging her at the end of the week" the doctor informed them.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done, Doctor" Lucas said, getting up and shaking his hand.

"Well you and Madison were extremely cooperative" the doctor smiled. "And she is so well behaved" Brooke giggled at that statement and went back into Madison's room. She was watching a commercial on Target with an extremely excited look on her face.

"Watching Target?"

"Uh huh" Madison said, reciting the commercial back to Brooke. Brooke laughed. "You get to go home in 2 days, Maddie!"

"Really?"

"Yah!"

"I's get to go to Target?"

"Definitely"

"And buy new shoes"

"And whatever else you want" Lucas added in.

"Yay!" Madison giggled. Brooke shook her head and felt cheerful for the first time in days. She knew Madison was recovering, and recovering fast. But she still had that sinking feeling. She didn't know why, but when she reflected on the events of the past two days, she felt it all to be her fault, and she didn't know why. Somehow, it was her bad parenting that made Madison sick. When she expressed these feelings to Lucas, he vehemently defended her, saying that it was absolutely no one's fault. But Brooke couldn't help thinking that.

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"Jake, no why are you being so rude?" Peyton snapped.

"I'm being rude?"

"Yah, you are!"

"How is that?" Jake asked mockingly.

"You have no respect for your wife" Peyton yelled. "I cant believe that you'd pick fights over stupid little things, and then go and blame them on me! I don't know who didn't change the litter, but it sure as hell isn't my job, if you weren't so all hoity on your mighty I make millions a year throne, maybe you would think twice about hiring a maid that was irresponsible" Peyton screamed.

"I cant believe we're fighting over the cat's litter…the point is, you were completely antagonistic when I asked you about it!"

"Whatever Jake" Peyton yelled, walking out of the room. She sat down on the swing outside and thought hard about the last few months. Their fights over stupid things had gotten more and more frequent, but she couldn't deny the fact that she loved him madly. She hoped he felt a fraction of what she felt for him. But if they both loved each other so much…where were all this anger coming from?

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"Mommy, when Maddie coming home?" Anthony asked Haley.

"At the end of the week, darling…why?"

"I wanna play with her"

"Baby you know she wont be able to play like she used to for a while, right?" Haley asked, afraid to have the conversation she had been dreading.

"Daddy told me" Anthony said, nodding. Haley silently thanked Nathan for taking care of the conversation she didn't wanna have with her four year old.

"She'll be fine though, and then you guys can play all you want" Haley smiled, hugging Anthony.

"Ok" Anthony said, sounding unsure. He ran off to play, and Nathan walked in.

"Thanks for explaining Madison's situation to him…I didn't wanna do it" Haley said, wrapping her arms around him.

"No problem…plus I figured I wanted to have a man talk with him"

"Man talk? With our four year old?" Haley laughed.

"Yah…what's so wrong with that?" Nathan asked, kissing her.

"Nothing…its just sweet that you care"

"Of course I care…Anthony and you mean more than anything else to me" Nathan said. "He must be so scared though"

"I know…well she'll be ok" Haley murmured, burying her head in his chest.

"Yah…she will"

Madison was released from the hospital two days later, almost in perfect condition, just a little weak. The next two months weren't easy on anyone, with the constant fear of another attack or a cold. But at the end of the risk period, Brooke and Lucas breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that their baby girl, their daughter, their 'princess', was gonna be ok.

A/N: Ok slightly emotional chapter…it was a little hard to write, I won't deny it, but I felt like I should. It was a tribute to my cousin, who unfortunately, wasn't as lucky as Madison was…so yah…and sorry it's kinda short lol but I didn't wanna like overcrowd the chapter….so read, review…and I promise…no more serious drama for a while! Lol review!