Hey, guys! Thanks you big for all the reviews. Mean the world. Anyways, here's chapter 14. Hope you enjoy it and as always, please review. :)
Chapter 14
Nathan looked at the black car in front of him in confusion when it started to drift to the right side of the track. His face turned into even more confused when he realized that the driver wasn't pulling back. Nathan slowed down a bit.
"What the hell are you doing, Lucas?" Nathan mumbled while looking at the black car. He still thought that it was Lucas who was driving that car. The black car was getting closer and closer to the wall and Nathan was starting to get nervous.
"Pull back, you idiot!" Nathan yelled. Sure, he didn't like the guy but he didn't want him dead either. Nathan saw that the car was only few feet from the wall when it suddenly tried to turn left so it wouldn't hit the wall. Tried, being the key word.
Nathan held his breath when he saw the car hit the wall hard. He slowed down and watched in horror the black car spinning around. Then it hit the wall on the other side of the track.
Lucas, Jake and the rest of the crowd had gasped in shock when they had seen Haley's car smash against the wall. Everyone watched in shock at the scene in front of them without saying anything. Haley's crashed car was only about 50 feet from them all so they all had a perfect view. Suddenly they all heard a loud scream.
"Haley!" Everyone turned to see Taylor running as fast as she could towards the smashed race car. Lucas started to run also.
"Haley's the driver!" someone yelled from the crowd in shock.
The whole crowd gasped. They all had thought that Lucas was the driver. Some people started to run towards Haley's car. Some people yelled something about calling an ambulance and the rest didn't know what to do.
Nathan jumped out of his car and threw his helmet on the ground. He ran as fast as he could towards the damaged black car. He could see that it was slightly on fire so he needed to be fast in case it exploded. He pulled the door open and started to pull the driver out. Nathan finally got her out of the car and dragged her away from the wreck. Nathan laid her down on the ground and looked at her with a weird face. He noticed that Lucas wasn't supposed to be this small and light. He turned to look at his left and noticed people running towards them. He still didn't realize that one of them was Lucas and the driver in front of him was actually Haley.
Nathan took her helmet off very carefully to give her some air. His heart skipped a beat and he let the helmet drop to the ground when he noticed that it was Haley.
"Oh my god..." he whispered in shock and stared at Haley's pale face. She had a deep cut above her left eyebrow and it continued below her eye, to the top of her cheek. Apparently the glass of the helmet had broken and the glass had made a cut on her face. Nathan also noticed that her leg was a little bit twisted. It was probably broken. Taylor was the first person to get there.
"Oh my god, Haley!" She screamed and gathered Haley's limp body in her arms. "Please, baby wake up. Wake up. Wake up, goddammit!" Taylor was holding Haley in her arms and rocking back and forth.
"Haley!" Lucas yelled when he got there. He stared at Taylor and Haley in shock not really realizing what had happened. Nathan was still staring at Haley not saying anything. When he heard Lucas' voice he snapped out of his thoughts.
"What the fuck, man! You were supposed to be the driver!" he yelled.
"No, she's the one." Lucas said quietly without taking his eyes off of her.
"Haley..." Nathan whispered in denial. Suddenly Coop, Brooke, Jake and Peyton were there.
"Oh my god..." Jake said when he saw Haley's unconscious form. Peyton squeezed Jake's hand.
"The ambulance will be here any minute." Brooke said in a shaky voice.
"How is this possible?" Peyton whispered in a quiet voice. Nobody said nothing. They just stared at Haley. Few minutes later they heard the sirens. They turned to see an ambulance and fire truck speed their way. They moved a bit to the side to give them space. Two men got out of the ambulance and rushed to Haley's side.
"Miss, you need to move." The other said when Taylor didn't move.
"No, I can't leave her." Taylor mumbled without moving.
"Miss, we can't help her if you won't move." He said. Lucas took a hold of Taylor's arm and lifted her gently.
"Come on, Taylor. We should let them do their job." Lucas said. Taylor looked at him with teary eyes but let him help her get up from the ground. The men lifted Haley on the stretcher. They went to put her on the ambulance.
"Can we come too?" Nathan asked. The two men looked at the whole crowd.
"Any family members?"
"We all are." Peyton said quietly.
"Any blood-related?" he asked again.
"I'm her sister." Taylor said and stepped up.
"You can come. The rest of you will have to get your own rides." He said. Taylor jumped on the back of the van.
"Which hospital are you taking her?" Nathan asked.
"There's only one around here. It's in downtown." He said and closed the doors. The ambulance left.
"Anyone know where the hospital is?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah, I do." Coop said. They all went back to their cars. Peyton and Brooke told the people who were still left that there was nothing they could do and that they should go home. Brooke drove with Lucas, Peyton with Jake. Nathan rode with Coop. Tim, who had refused to go home, followed them with his own car.
When they finally got to the hospital, they headed to the information desk.
"Hey, we're looking for Haley James." Lucas said. "She was just brought in here." The woman at the desk looked at her file.
"Yes, the car accident victim. She's being operated right now in the 4th floor. There's a waiting room there." She said. Lucas and the rest went to the elevators and to the fourth floor. When they got to the waiting room, they saw Taylor yelling to a janitor.
"Miss, I have no idea what's going on." He said apologetically. "You should just calm down and wait for a doctor to come." He said and left. Taylor huffed in annoyance and sat down on a bench.
"Taylor, have you heard anything yet?" Lucas said while sitting down next to her. Brooke and Peyton sat down next to him while Coop, Tim, Jake and Nathan took the bench opposite of them.
"No! Do I look like I've heard anything yet! No one's telling me nothing!" she said hysterically.
"I'm sure she's fine." Coop said.
"What if she's not!" Taylor asked. She saw a doctor walk past them. "Hey, you! Stop!" Taylor got up and yelled after the doctor.
"Can I help you, miss?"
"Yes, I need to know how my sister is doing. Haley James."
"I'm sorry. I just got here. I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for your doctor." He said and was about to leave. Taylor took a hold of his arm.
"Listen to me, you overpaid jerk. My sister could be dying and if you won't give me answers right now I'm gonna get very violent with you." She said angrily. The doctor gulped.
"Hold on, miss." He said and went to make a phone call. He came back a minute later.
"Your sister's still in surgery. I don't know any more right now. All you can do right now is wait." He said. When Taylor still looked at him unsatisfied, he continued. "The doctors will do everything they can." Taylor rolled her eyes. It was something only a doctor could say. She went back to sit with the others.
"What did he say?" Nathan asked.
"She's still in surgery." She said and sighed. She turned to look at Nathan.
"What the hell happened?" she asked. She didn't accuse him of anything, just wanted to know what had happened. Everybody turned to look at Nathan.
"I really don't know. Her car started to slip to the outside of the track and she didn't pull back until it was too late." Nathan said.
"She wouldn't just slip." Lucas said accusingly. Nathan glared at him.
"What are you saying? That I made her crash?" Nathan asked angrily.
"Guys..." Brooke said but they ignored her.
"Well, you did bump the back of her car!" Lucas said while glaring at him back.
"That had nothing to do with it! Come on!" Nathan said annoyed.
"All I know is that if she hadn't raced you, she wouldn't be in a surgery right now!"
"Well, if you had raced like she told me, she wouldn't be there either."
"Shut up!" Taylor yelled. "Both of you shut up." She paused. "I can't listen to this right now. If you wanna fight, do it elsewhere." She said and put her head in her hands. Lucas wrapped his arm around Brooke and Jake did the same to Peyton.
"Anyone want anything from the cafeteria?" Peyton asked while she and Jake stood up. They all shake their heads in denial.
Taylor, Nathan, Tim, Lucas and Brooke sat without saying anything. After a while Jake and Peyton came back with their coffees and some time after that Coop said he needed to go back to the track to take care of things.
They didn't know how long they sat there but it was almost morning when a doctor came to find them. Everyone turned to stare at him confused. They had been sitting in silence for so many hours that they had already gotten used to it.
"You here for Haley James?" the old man asked.
"Yes." Taylor said and got up. She walked with the doctor away from the others.
"How is my sister?" Taylor asked with a shaky voice.
"The surgery was a very difficult and a long one. Your sister had two broken ribs and a broken leg. But the real problem was with the amount of internal bleeding she had."
"So what does that mean?" Taylor asked.
"She's in recovery right now but she's still unconscious."
"When will she wake up?"
"It's up to her. It could be two hours or two months. Naturally, the sooner she does, the better chances she has of full recovery." The doctor said.
"But she will wake up, right?"
"We're staying optimistic but I have to honest with you. Many people have died of lesser accidents."
"So, it's not certain that she will wake up?" Taylor asked with her lips trembling.
"No." the doctor said. Taylor took a hold of the wall so she wouldn't faint. "But like I said, we're staying positive." The doctor said.
"When can I see her?" Taylor asked.
"She'll be moved to her own room around noon." The doctor said and left. Taylor was still leaning on the wall with her hand. She felt a sob coming but muffled it with her other hand. She brushed the tears away and went back to the others who were watching her with worried faces. The minute they saw her grab hold from the wall, they had feared the worst.
"I talked with the doctor." Taylor said like the others hadn't noticed. She sat down to her seat.
"What did he say?" Nathan asked with a numb face.
"He said..." Taylor started. "He said that the surgery was ok. She had few broken ribs and a broken leg." Taylor said. She had trouble saying the rest.
"But she's ok?" Peyton asked.
"Not exactly." Taylor said and ran a hand through her hair. "She had a lot of internal bleeding. She's in recovery right now." She said and took a deep breath. "But she might never wake up." Taylor finished in a small voice and covered her face with her hands while sobbing quietly. Nathan and the rest stared at her in shock.
They all sat there in silence for at least 4 hours. Taylor suddenly spoke.
"Does anyone have a cell phone I can borrow?" she asked. Brooke dug inside her purse and gave hers to Taylor.
"Thanks." She said and dialed a number and put the phone to her ear.
"Hey mom, it's Taylor... No, everything's not fine. Haley got into a car accident... She got out of surgery... They don't know yet... You should come back with dad. Take Matt with you... We're at Hope Memorial. You know where it is?... Yeah, see you." She said and turned the phone off. She turned to look at Brooke again.
"You mind if I still use it?" Taylor asked.
"My dad pays my bills and I'm not exactly talking to him right now. So for all I care, you can call to Egypt." Brooke said smiling a bit. Taylor smiled back in gratitude. She dialed another number and put the phone to her ear.
"Quinn, hi. It's Taylor..."
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After Taylor had called the entire family and drank 4 cups of coffee, it was finally noon. She got up and went to ask where her sister was. They said to go to room 4016. Taylor and the rest went there. Taylor put her on the door handle and took a deep breath.
She opened the door and could almost feel her heart miss a beat when she saw Haley's tiny form on the bed. She was wearing one of those extremely depressing looking hospital gowns. Her face was pale except for the bright red scar on her face. Taylor went to sit next to her bed and took a hold of her hand.
"Hey, Haley. It's me. You're gonna be fine so don't worry." Taylor said. "You've got a lot of people who care about you here. There's me, Lucas, Nathan, Jake, Peyton, Brooke, and that one guy Tim. You were right, he is kind of dumb." The others chuckled. Taylor smiled a little but she had tears in her eyes.
"We just want you to get well. Just open your eyes, honey." Taylor whispered in Haley's ear. She kept talking to Haley about all and everything and the rest kept looking at them.
The nurse came around 6 pm and announced that they should all go home because Haley needed her rest and the visiting hours were over. Peyton, Brooke, Lucas and Jake left reluctantly the room. Tim was about to follow them and leave the room but he froze when he saw that Nathan's wasn't coming.
"Nate?" Tim asked quietly. Nathan stared at Haley without saying anything. When Tim thought about it more, he realized that Nathan hadn't said a word since they got in the room. And that was six hours ago. Taylor looked up from her seat at Nathan.
"Nathan, you should go home. Get some rest." Taylor said softly.
"I can't." Nathan said. "She needs to know..." his voice was a whisper.
"She knows." Taylor said and smiled a bit. Nathan nodded and looked at Haley one more time before leaving with Tim. Taylor looked after them and sighed.
"He really is a keeper, Hales." She said and smiled at Haley. Taylor stayed with her the whole night.
Monday morning Taylor woke up early feeling weak and nauseous. She was almost about to go see a doctor herself when she realized she hadn't eaten since Saturday at that brunch buffet. She forced herself to go downstairs to the cafeteria to get some food and coffee. When she came back, she saw a bunch of nurses around Haley's bed.
"What's going on!" Taylor asked in a loud, panicked voice. The nurses turned to look at her.
"Miss James is stabilized enough so we're moving her to the hospital in Tree Hill. Closer to her home. We've already informed her parents." one of the women said.
"Can I go with her?" Taylor asked. "I don't have a ride."
"I'm sure we can work something out." She said and smiled. Taylor followed the women downstairs where they took Haley where the ambulances where. She was lifted once again inside the van. Taylor went to sit next to her with few ambulance guys.
Few hours later they were in a hospital in Tree Hill. Taylor went to check Haley's room and called Lucas and Nathan to let them know they were moved there. Taylor liked the new room much better. It had bigger windows, better view and it was much bigger. It even had a nice couch in it. She went to sit next to Haley's bed. She didn't have to stay alone for too long because Nathan came there.
"Nathan." Taylor said and nodded his way.
"Hey Taylor. How is she?" Nathan asked and went to sit to the other side of the bed.
"The same." Taylor said while looking at Haley. They both didn't say anything for a while.
"Do you think she can hear us?" Taylor asked suddenly.
"What?" Nathan asked caught off guard. "Umh, yeah I hope she can." Nathan said while staring at Haley's pale face. Taylor looked at him for a while.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom and get some coffee. Do you want anything?" Taylor asked.
"No thanks, I'm good." He said without breaking her gaze from Haley. Taylor nodded and left. She didn't really want to leave Haley's side but she felt that Nathan needed a few minutes alone with Haley. Nathan heard the door close and he sighed. He was finally alone with her. But he didn't know what to say. He took Haley's hand in his own and was surprised to find it warm.
"Hi, Haley. It's me, Nathan." Nathan said and paused.
"Ok, that sounded stupid... I'm really bad at this, you know. Like telling someone how I feel and stuff. But you need to know how much you mean to me, Haley. You have no idea how much. I didn't know it either until it was too late." Nathan said and squeezed her hand a bit.
"Haley, you're the most important person in my life and I don't know what I'm gonna if-." Nathan stopped the sentence. He just couldn't finish it.
"And I know you're really mad at me. Right now you're probably thinking of different ways to kick my ass and you can do them all if you just wake up. Please, wake up." He said and looked at Haley half expecting for her to actually open her eyes. When he realized she wasn't waking up right then, tears came to his eyes.
"God Haley, you have no idea how sorry I am. It was never about the race for me. Never. If I could go back in time and never race, I would." He was so focused on trying to get her to open her eyes that he didn't hear the door open.
"Please open your eyes. I'm so sorry, Haley. So sorry."
"You should be!" Nathan turned to find an angry Lucas standing on the door way. He walked to the other side of the bed, opposite of Nathan. Brooke was behind him but her face was worried.
"How is she?" Brooke asked. She looked between Lucas and Nathan who were both glaring at each other. "Ok, I'm gonna go get some food for all of us. Don't kill each other." She said before disappearing. Nathan and Lucas were still glaring at each other.
"You should leave." Lucas finally said angrily.
"No chance in hell. I was here first so why don't you leave, bro." Nathan said the last word sarcastically.
"I'm about to kick your ass!" Lucas said angrily.
"Oh, bring it on!"
The door opened suddenly.
"What the hell's going on in here?" Nathan and Lucas turned to look at identical twins on the doorway.
"Chris! Brian!" Lucas said smiling. The twins glared at him and Nathan.
"So, you're Haley's brothers?" Nathan asked.
"Who the hell are you?" Brian asked from Nathan.
"I'm Nathan." He said. When nobody said nothing and glared at Nathan, he continued. "Nathan Scott." He said.
"So, you're the soon-to-be-dead-guy who dated our baby sister and then raced against her so she almost died?" Chris asked while taking a step towards Nathan and rolling his sleeves up.
"Well, it wasn't quite like that." Nathan said without moving.
"So, you didn't date her? And you didn't race her? And she's not in the hospital because of that race?" Brian asked while glaring at him. Lucas smiled a bit. He couldn't help but feel joy for the twins grilling Nathan. Chris turned to stare at Lucas.
"Why are you smiling, Scott? You're also on the black list."
"Huh?"
"Well, you did lie to her and betray her, didn't you." Brian said while taking a step towards Lucas. Right that moment Taylor came in.
"What the hell's going on in here?" she asked when she saw Lucas' and Nathan's faces. "Brian! Chris! Back off! I knew I shouldn't have told you anything." she said. The twins looked at Taylor, then at each other, then Haley and the Scott brothers.
"You both better leave before Matt gets here." Brian said. Lucas and Nathan left the room. Right when they were opening the door, Jake came through that.
"Hey, guys-" Jake got cut off by Lucas and Nathan turning him around and pushing him out of the room.
"What's going on?" Jake asked outside the room.
"The twins are back." Lucas said. Jake's face turned into a horrified look.
"What? But Matt's not here, right?"
"On his way." Lucas said while walking towards the elevator with his arm around Brooke.
"We gotta go." Jake said and started to drag Peyton towards the elevators also.
"Well, he can't be worse than Brian and Chris." Nathan said from behind Jake. Jake turned to look at him while waiting for the elevator.
"They don't call him 'Godfather' for nothing." Jake said.
"Did they ever find that one guy who slapped Haley's ass when she was shopping with her sisters?" Lucas asked.
"The rumour is that he and his family moved to Hawaii. What about that one guy who kissed her at homecoming last year?"
"Still in the hospital. Poor guy didn't know that Haley's brothers were chaperoning." Nathan looked at Lucas and Jake with a horrified look.
"You're kidding, right?" he asked.
"Yeah we are, but they do call him Godfather. And he has beaten up two guys because of Haley." Jake said.
"Great." Nathan mumbled while getting inside the elevator with the others. Lucas looked at him annoyed.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have lied to her." Lucas said harshly.
"Look who's talking." Nathan responded.
"I'm gonna come back here later. And I don't want you here." Lucas said.
"Well, I'm not gonna stop coming here either. I don't care what her brothers say. Or you for that matter." Nathan said harshly.
"I don't want you here!"
"I don't want you here either!"
"Why don't you share her?" Brooke said sarcastically. She was getting very much annoyed with them. Lucas and Nathan turned to look at her.
"That's a good idea." Nathan said.
"It's a great idea." Lucas said. "Ok, so I'll get the weekdays and you get the weekends."
"No way. You take the weekends."
"Hell no. Why don't I get the odd days, like today. And you'll get the even days, like tomorrow?" Lucas asked.
"So, I'll get her every other day?" Nathan asked making sure.
"Yeah."
"Today's the 25th?" Nathan asked making sure.
"Yeah. So today she's mine." Lucas said.
"Whatever. If I see you here on my day, I'm gonna beat you up." Nathan said.
"Same goes for you, lil' brother." Lucas said.
Lucas and Nathan glared at each other but didn't say anything. They elevator doors opened and they stepped out of it. Lucas pulled Brooke to the cafeteria with her while Nathan went to his car. Jake and Peyton went towards his car.
"Do you think they will ever make up?" Peyton asked.
"Not until Haley wakes up." Jake said and wrapped his arm around her.
"What if she doesn't?" Peyton whispered.
"Don't say that. Don't even think about that!" Jake said and opened his passenger side door to Peyton.
"I know but it's a possibility. What if she doesn't wake up?"
"If she doesn't wake up, I don't think Lucas and Nathan will ever forgive each other." Jake said.
"Or themselves."
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So, how was it? Please review. I've still got one more chapter coming up before the epilogue. I've actually finished the story already but I still got to proof read and etc. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to review. ;)