That Yesterday Rain - Chapter 3 - Rude Awakenings

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Haley sat at home, turning the phone over and over in her hands, wondering who she should call first. Nathan had dropped her off back at her house on the way home from the hospital with some quick comforting and an awkward hug, it was obvious that he wanted to retreat back to the safety of his home and spend some time alone with his thoughts, leaving the spreading of the news all to her.

The most logical of people to call would be Lucas's mom. Haley tried their house (AN: I didn't know if Haley knew that Karen left to go find Andy or not, so I'm just gonna say that she doesn't), but nobody answered, not even when she tried her cell phone.

She stopped turning the phone and looked down at it in thought. There wasn't really anybody else to call. Keith was gone. Dan was an ass and really had very little right to know how his firstborn was doing. Petyon was lying up in the hospital herself and Haley had no idea of how to get in contact with Mr. Sawyer.

Brooke. Haley was unsure of how Lucas and her had left things, but she needed to know, whether she was thousands of miles away or not. She dialed her cell phone number and pressed the phone to her ear anxiously.

"Hello?" Brooke answered after just one ring.

"Hey, Brooke. It's me."

"Haley? What's up? Shouldn't you be off wowin' thousands of people right now?"

"Um, yeah, probably, but I came back. I'm in Tree Hill."

"What are you doing there?"

"Well, that's a long story and not really why I'm calling. Lucas and Peyton were in a car accident," she said quietly, trying desperately to hold back a fresh set of tears.

"...what? Are...are they okay?" Brooke asked shakily.

"No, not really. They won't tell us anything about Peyton without talking to family first but I don't know how to get in contact with her dad. I can't get ahold of Karen either, Nathan had to go down to the hospital, I went with him, but he wouldn't go up and see Lucas. Lucas has it pretty bad but they said he should make a full recovery. I just--I don't know what to do, Brooke," Haley cried as a sob escaped her.

"Oh my God. Haley, I'm coming home. I'll be there by morning," Brooke said, quickly hanging up the phone without waiting for Haley to respond and started throwing clothes back into one of her mostly unpacked suitcases.

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One Week Later...

Brooke had arrived the very next morning, as she said she would, and accompanied Haley to the hospital to see Lucas. There had been no change that day, or in the six days that followed. Karen was still unreachable, Keith was still gone, Peyton's dad had been reached and made it home two days later. Peyton's condition was slightly worse than Lucas's and the group had been shocked to tears when they heard from Mr. Sawyer that she was in a coma and they were unsure when, if ever, she would wake up.

Brooke strolled around the corner and into Lucas's room, one whole week after the accident. She plopped down in a chair next to his bed and sat back, gazing at his face as if she was deep in thought. After a few minutes she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Come on, Lucas. We need you to come back to us. I'm so scared...we all are," she reached up with her left hand to brush his hair back and gently run her thumb over his cheek. "Open your eyes, Lucas. You can do it. Do not make me sing for you, nobody wants that."

She stared hopefully up at his still face before settling back in her chair again. After a moment, she scooted her chair closer to the bed and gently took his hand in both of hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. She began to run her thumb in circles over the back of it when she felt a gentle pressure on her right hand--which was cupped in his palm.

She glanced down at his hand and then back up at his face. "Luke?"

The pressure grew stronger and she stood from her chair, now standing over him. "Come on, Lucas, open your eyes."

Again, the pressure continued to grow stronger until Brooke was wincing in pain. Lucas's heart raced as his brow furrowed in pain.

"Lucas, open your eyes," Brooke almost commanded as she worridly looked at the heart rate machine, which was now beeping much faster than it had been all week.

Lucas relaxed back a little at the sound of Brooke's voice and squinted his eyes open.

"It hurts," he croaked painfully.

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Haley rounded the corner of the elevator bank and headed towards Lucas's room as a doctor and two nurses rushed in and Brooke was pushed outside. "Brooke! What's going on?" she jogged up to her friend and tried to look through the window of Lucas's door.

"He's awake! He's awake, Haley! I think something's wrong, but he's awake!" Brooke jumped up and down and bear hugged Haley.

"That's great!" Haley said, also jumping a little bit.

"I'm gonna go call Nathan," Brooke said, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and jogging down the hall. "I'll be right back!" she called back to Haley as she reached the elevators.

By the time she got to the sliding doors, Nathan was already picking up the phone. "Hello?" he answered.

"Hey! Lucas is awake!" Brooke shouted excitedly.

"That's great! I'll be down there in a little bit."

"Ok, I have to go back up there, bye!" she clicked the off button before he got a chance to say 'goodbye' and ran back inside towards the elevators.

During the week that Lucas was unconcsious, Nathan had stopped by everyday, usually when nobody else was in the room. He said very little when somebody else was in there, usually just light conversation with them until they gave him some time alone with Lucas. He had tried, as best he could, to ask for forgiveness from an unresponsive Lucas about what he had said to him, explaining that he didn't really mean it and was just caught up with all colors of drama.

Even Deb had stopped by the hospital a few days, usually bringing some fresh flowers and best wishes along with her. She had also tried to get in contact with Karen, but the only number Karen had left in case of emergency was her cell number, which never worked. She talked to Dan about the situation, even getting him to agree to pay the hospital bills if Karen would continue to be unreached so Lucas wouldn't have to worry about money. Though he still refused to go down and see his oldest son.

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Brooke and Haley patiently waited outside of Lucas's hospital room, both leaning on the wall directly across the hall from his door, tapping their fingers on the wall and checking their watches every other minute.

Finally a doctor came out, the two nurses walking off down the hallway behind him. He looked at Brooke, who he had one of the nurses push out of the room not ten minutes earlier. "He looks fine, considering the situation. We just had to give him a little stronger pain medication and a light sedative, so don't expect him to be extremely alert. Just be careful around him, he's got a lot of recovering to do," he smiled at the two girls before walking off down the hallway in the direction the nurses had gone.

Haley and Brooke shot off the wall and burst through the door, rushing to Lucas's side and skidding into the chairs beside his bed. His eyes slowly fluttered open to see what all the noise was about and he lightly raised his eyebrows at the two eager girls at his bedside.

"Long time, no see," Brooke smiled as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Hey, don't cry," Lucas groggily said in reply to her tears.

"No, it's ok, they're happy tears," she smiled and wiped them away.

"How long have I been out?"

"A week," Haley replied, leaning forward on her elbows.

Lucas looked down at Haley, who was sitting to the right of Brooke, and really noticed her presence for the first time. "Hey, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on tour?"

"I came home," she shrugged.

Lucas didn't push the subject and briefly closed his eyes. Images of rolling into the ditch and Petyon's still face filled his mind and he quickly opened his them.

"Where's Peyton? Is she ok?" he asked, trying to sit up.

"Lucas, lay down, you're going to hurt yourself," Brooke said, gently pushing him back onto the bed.

"Is she ok?" he repeated, more demanding this time.

"Lucas...she's...Peyton's in a coma," Brooke said quietly as she held his hand.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. "She's gonna wake up...r-right?"

Brooke glanced over at Haley and then down at the edge of the bed. "They're not sure."

Lucas could swear that his heart stopped that very moment, but the persistant beeping of the heart monitor carried on and proved his thoughts wrong. He couldn't believe it, Peyton, in a coma. I caused this, he thought, withdrawing his hand and clenching it into a fist as he shut his eyes tightly, trying to wish it all away.

He slowly opened his eyes and unclenched his fists, turning his head to look out the window into the gloomy rain. His mind was racing, what if Peyton died? What if she never woke up? He would never forgive himself. I should have been paying attention, he scolded himself, furrowing is brow and looking back to Haley and Brooke.

"Could you guys just give me some time alone?"

Brooke glanced over to Haley then back to Lucas. "Yea, are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine," he replied, a little too harshly than he had intended to. "I'm sorry, I just--"

"Luke, it's ok. You're allowed to be a little off. You were just in a car accident and you've been unconcsious for a week," Haley cut him off as she and Brooke made their way to the door. Lucas gave a small nod, staring down at the blanket that covered his legs, and they silently left the room.

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to be continued...

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I had originally intended this chapter to be longer, but decided to just end it and get it posted. I keep thinking of things that you guys should know, and Peyton's "mom" never came back. That whole thing between them never happened. And Dan is still paying for Lucas's heart medicine, Lucas and Andy were never searching for any dirt on Dan, and Lucas is back in his house, but he still did live with Dan for a while. I think that's it...for now. Thank you so much for all the reviews! I really do enjoy reading them!

Thanks for reading, please review!