Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill
Note: Okay, only three reviews...I really really would like some more! I know more of you are reading! I won't stop the story because it is my favorite one..but please just show some support! To those of you who did review...THANKYOU! That makes everything worth it! Here is the next chapter! Enjoy...
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"Excuse me Miss?" Brooke groaned as she felt a light hand shaking her awake. Rubbing her eyes, Brooke tried to place where she was. Looking around the rooms at various medical instruments and bright white tiling, it all came back too quickly.
"Where is Lucas?" Brooke frantically searched the nurse's eyes which looked sad and tired.
"He had to go into surgery. The medicine wasn't responding properly. We didn't want to wake you..I mean, you looked so fragile.." The nurse took a step back, scared of what Brooke might do. Brooke shook her head as she began to remember someone lightly moving her into a chair in the corner of the room. Cursing herself for not waking up, Brooke began pacing the room.
"When will he be out?" Once again Brooke tared into the nurse's eyes.
"If everything is going as planned, probably in about an hour. How about I take you down to get some food?" The nurse motioned for Brooke to follow her but Brooke stayed firmly planted to the floor.
"No, I need to make some phone calls. Thank you though." The nurse nodded and Brooke alone in the room.
Taking in a deep breath to keep from crying, Brooke looked around the room. She hated being there by herself. It was such a lonely place. She was almost glad that Lucas hadn't woken up before she had gotten there.
Grabbing her cell phone she quickly dialed Peyton's number.
"Peyt...Yeah I'm here. No, he hasn't woken up yet. He's...He's in surgery...The medicine isn't working...Yeah I'm okay, I'm just worried about him...You talked to Karen?" Brooke sniffled as she listened to Peyton explain Karen's phone call, "So she is on her way here?...Okay, I will tell the doctor...No, I think I will be okay...Where are you?...Why are you still there...Oh Peyton...we will get through this okay?...Take everyone home okay?...I will be fine...Love you..."
Brooke pressed the end button and quickly began dialing another number.
"Hey dad!...It's Brooke...Your daughter...Um, my they said they can't get me on another flight until tonight...I know, it's weird...No, don't call them...You know that the airport is small here...I will be in San Diego soon enough...Okay...Okay, bye."
The phone went dead on the other line. Brooke hated lying to her parents, even though they were horrible to her. But she had to do this, she wanted to be here more than anywhere else in the world. She wanted to be with Lucas.
Quietly stepping out into the hall, Brooke began her search for the doctor. According to Peyton, Karen should be there in about three hours. Feeling very much alone, Brooke wrapped her arms around her waist as she awkwardly made her way down the hall.
Finally she made it back to the front desk, which seemed a lot further this morning than last night.
"Um, Hi. I need to talk to Dr. Jonah." There was a different nurse there than from the night before. This girl was young, probably only a year or two older than Brooke.
"I can take a message. He is in surgery" The girl noisily smacked her gum as she stared down Brooke. Brooke winced as she realized exactly which surgery he was in.
"Um...okay. Can you please tell him that Karen Scott, Lucas's mother will be here in about three hours?" The girl simply nodded and then went back to filing her purple nails.
Shaking her head, Brooke decided that it would probably be best if she got some food. Following the cafeteria signs, Brooke's thoughts floated back to Lucas.
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As Nathan began to pull out of the airport, he realized that he had no where to go. So pulling onto the interstate, Nathan just drove. He didn't think about where he was going, and frankly, he didn't really care. It's not like anyone would care if he just disappeared. Ignoring the voices in his head that were yelling "That's not true!" Nathan pulled into a tiny motel off the first exit that he saw.
Jumping out his car, he walked into the musty lobby. It was dimly lit with random light beams coming in through the rotting shades. Each light beam lit up millions of dust particles that stirred with each step. Being careful to not take deep breaths Nathan made his way up to the counter.
"Ugh, excuse me..." An old man turned around quickly, as if startled that someone was actually going to get a room.
"Can I help you young man?" Nathan shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "I'm at a hotel, what do you think I need?" and passed the man a ten.
"Keep the change." The old man graciously nodded as he passed Nathan a key. Walking up the dim lit stairs, Nathan wondered if he had done the right thing. He could be with Haley right now, he could be holding her in his arms. He had been dreaming of doing that for so long, but when she finally said the things that he had wanted to her, he backed out. He could tell she was being sincere, but he wasn't ready to take her back yet. He didn't know if he ever would be.
Slipping his key into the rusty key-whole, Nathan almost jumped out of his shoes as he looked over at the guy who seemed to be leaving.
"Jake?" Jake dropped his bag at the sound of his name.
"Nathan?" Nathan shook his head at the almost comical meeting. He looked over Jake, whose clothes were attempting to dry in the musty air.
"Guess they should call this heartbreak hotel.." Jake smiled and nodded as he greeted Nathan with a hug.
"Yeah, maybe so...so what are you doing here?" Nathan shrugged his shoulders with indifference.
"Come on man," Jake grabbed Nathan's bag along with his own, and began making his way down the stairs.
"Let's go buy ourselves some crappy coffee and talk about our problems." Nathan let a smile form on his face as he followed Jake down the stairs.
"Maybe we have no girls because we are girls..." Jake laughed as they made their way out of heartbreak hotel.
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Peyton threw he head back onto her pillow as Haley changed into some fresh clothes. They had just gone to Lucas's to pick up Haley's bags. They had thought about staying, but seeing Brooke's bags sprawled out on the floor and the blinking red light that reminded them that Lucas was lying in surgery, they quickly decided that Peyton's house was a better option.
"Peyt, I need to apologize." Peyton raised her head a little to look at Haley who had settled herself at the end of the bed. "I know that I haven't been there for you, or for anyone, like I should have. I don't even know exactly what happened with Jake, but if you need to talk..." Haley trailed off as she saw Peyton's eyes gleam with tears.
Peyton shook her head, her golden curls shaking in reaction, "It's okay Haley. I haven't really been an open book. But I mean, if you really want to hear about Jake..." Haley grabbed Peyton's foot to stop her.
"Peyton, anything that you want to tell me, tell me. I will be here for you. I promise."
Nodding once again, Peyton smiled as she began the long saga of Jeyton.
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Karen through her fifth pack of tissue in the bathroom trash can. Looking up into the mirror, she locked eyes with a stranger. The woman standing in front of her looked weak, useless, hopeless. Her face was blotchy and red, a telltale sign of crying. Her eyes were small and hazy, blocking out all emotion. Splashing water on her face, Karen sniffled back more tears.
Every time it seemed like things couldn't get worse, they did. Hadn't Lucas's test results come back negative? Where was Keith? Haley was back? Brooke was with Lucas?
Forcing herself to leave all the unanswered questions alone, she made her way back to her seat.
"Hey, you all right" Andy looked up from the book he was reading.
Karen nodded sadly as she took her seat. Leaning into Andy, she closed her eyes. She was so happy that he had come with her. After all, his mother had just fallen and he could have stayed with her. But no, he was here with her, and that's what mattered.
As Andy lightly rubbed her shoulder, Karen drifted off to sleep, something that she desperately needed.
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Andy took in the sweet scent of Karen's hair as she slept against his shoulder. He couldn't believe how strong she was, he couldn't imagine how she felt. But he was glad that she had let him go with her.
Andy loved Karen more than she knew, and would do anything for her, but until recently, she had been scared to let him. Closing his eyes and resting his head on her head, Andy also succumbed to slumber.
An old woman who was sitting across the aisle looked over lovingly. "There are just the cutest couple in the world," she thought to herself as she took a sip of her tea, "No cares, no worries. If only I were that lucky."
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Dan sat silently behind his desk, twirling his a pen in his hand. He felt like he needed to do something, but he had no clue what. Deb had already taken off in search of Nathan, ordering Dan to stay behind in case he came home. But of course Dan knew better, Nathan wasn't coming home. If Dan guessed right, Nathan was probably already half way to San Diego by now to see Lucas. Lucas. Dan stood up and began pacing on the hard wood floors. Lucas was in the hospital. Everything seemed so surreal, Dan didn't even know what to think about that. Then, as if a light bulb went off, Dan knew what he needed to do. Grabbing his keys he ran out of the door. He needed to find Keith.
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Taking a bite into her apple, Brooke made her way into the elevator. It had taken her about twenty minutes to find the cafeteria. Once she got there, she had quickly grabbed an apple and a soda, and had started on her way back. She wanted to be there when they brought Lucas back.
Waving at the young nurse as she walked passed, Brooke made her way down the left hall.
"Excuse me..." Brooke turned back to the nurse who was glancing at her questionably.
"This isn't a visiting hour." Brooke's eyes widened at the girl. Was she really trying to stop her from going in there?
"I've been here all night, I am the only one who is here for him!" Brooke's voice came out loud and threatening, probably a mistake on her part.
"I'm sorry miss, but you can't go in there for another two hours..." This time the nurse didn't even look up from her nail file.
Stomping over to the desk, Brooke dipped her head so she could see the nurse's name tag.
"Well, Katie, I am going in there okay? Because the love of my life is about to come out of a life threatening surgery. So if it's okay with you, I'm going to take off. Great..." Before she could protest, Brooke swung around on her heel and marched down the hall.
Closing the door, Brooke found herself once again lost in the silence. She crossed her fingers and prayed that Katie wouldn't call anyone to come get her. What were the visiting hours anyway? I mean, wasn't it random that she couldn't go in at this time?
As she settled herself into a chair to finish her apple, she suddenly felt sadness overcome her once again. It was if random waves, no tsunamis, crashed into her at unsuspecting times. She felt so many things inside that she couldn't even sort them out into definite feelings. As she wiped her eyes with a free hand, she heard wheels coming down the hall. Taking in a deep long, deep breath, Brooke stood up, praying that everything was going to be okay.
The door slowly opened, and the tale end of the bed came rolling in. A tall, dark man turned to Brooke with a smile.
"You are lucky. Everything went great." He turned to look at Lucas, whose face still wasn't visible to Brooke. "Oh, I think he is waking up..."
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a/n: I already have some of the next chapter written. PLEASE PLEASE review! It only takes one second! Please, I would appreciate it! Thank you! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next up, A LONG BRUCAS CONVERSATION! YAY!