Chapter 20: Bittersweet

One day, on a mid-April morning…

"Today marks a very sad day in our life" the principal of Tree Hill High School boomed at the high school students. "A student of ours has been declared to be in an official vegetative state…I…honestly don't know what to tell you guys other than to pray for her…pray for her family, pray for her friends, and pray for her baby"

"We have to go visit her after school" Brooke whispered to Lucas. He nodded and put an arm around her. Brooke leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Never would she have thought that the misfortune of a person who she was sure she loathed with every fiber of her being would affect her so strongly. Brooke went to visit Rachel every single day in the hospital, taking flowers and cards or talking to her about the baby, who was (thank goodness) a healthy almost full term baby girl.

"Brooke…I just want you to know I think it's so good of you to go visit her and be with her during this hard time" her guidance counselor told her on the way out. Brooke nodded with appreciation and walked quietly down the hall.

This situation had made her think a lot about her life, about her and Lucas, about how negative self image could lead to such drastic measures. Brooke was graduating in about a month. Her senior year, her high school years, were drawing to a final end.

Everything she thought had been so important to her now seemed so frivolous. The Coach and Burberry purses, the pretty Mercedes, the huge house, the wealth, everything she was accustomed to, everything she had thought was her life…now seemed pathetically useless. All Brooke Davis wanted out of life was love. All she wanted was to leave the world a little better place.

"Hey babe" Lucas said when he walked into Haley and Brooke's apartment. He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Are you ready to go?"

"Ready" Brooke grabbed her purse and followed Lucas out the door. She was going to go visit Rachel. Nathan and Haley were going to swing by later, but Brooke didn't wanna wait for them to be done doing…whatever they were doing.

"Hello Miss Davis" the secretary smiled and ushered her through. She had seen a lot of this hospital in the past month.

Brooke made her way with Lucas up to the intensive care ward. The secretary there ushered her through, recognizing her. When Brooke got to Rachel's bed, though, it was empty.

"Lucas, where is she?"

"Let me find out" Lucas went over to talk to the nurse. He returned with a solemn expression on his face. "Um…Brooke, sweetie-"

"No"

"She passed away this afternoon at 12:00. She went into labor and delivered the baby…who by the way is healthy and happy- they were waiting for you to come name her. I'm sorry, Brooke"

"I'm sorry, too…for the little time I knew her, she drove me insane and I hated her. But truth is, she was exactly like me. Struggling to find a place to fit in where people love you"

"I agree…you wanna go see the baby?"

"Yeah" Brooke brightened a little. Rachel was gone, but she had left a mark on the world. She had left a mark on the school and on the squad…but most importantly, she had left a mark in Brooke's life.

Meanwhile…

"So are we supposed to be having hot, wild sex?" Haley giggled.

"No" Nathan laughed. "But I'm all up for it!"

"Nate…we're here to talk!"

"What's there to talk about, Haley? I love you…I know you didn't sleep with Chris…I overreacted…I wanna reaffirm our vows already…Haley, I wanna be with you for the rest of my life…I can't be away from you any longer"

"Nathan…" Haley leaned in for a kiss when her phone rang. As the person spoke, tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

"Haley, Haley what's wrong?" Nathan asked.

"Rachel's…gone"

"And the baby?" Nathan asked.

"Alive and healthy"

"We should go to the hospital" Nathan suggested, getting up. Haley nodded and followed Nathan to the car.

They arrived at the hospital 10 minutes later. They met Brooke in the nursery, who was standing there holding a little baby girl.

"Oh my gosh! She's so cute!" Haley said, rushing over and cooing over the baby.

"Dude, that's our half sister right there" Nathan told Lucas.

"Yeah…weird, huh?"

"Yeah" Nathan glanced over at Haley and Brooke cooing over the little girl. "What did Brooke name her?"

"Umm...Brooke! What's her name?"

"I chose Andrea- it means strength…which she's gonna need a lot of when she's older"

"Oh that's beautiful…middle name?" Haley asked.

"Rachel"

"Andrea Rachel. Beautiful" the nurse smiled and took the baby from Brooke. "I'm gonna pull up her birth certificate and then I need to sign the adoption certificate"

"Adoption certificate?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah" Karen and Andy were standing in the doorway. "We're adopting her"

"So baby Andrea is happy…and healthy…and has a home with the two best people in the world" Brooke sighed when her and Lucas got home. "Thank god"

"You know, Brooke, you were amazing through all this…I can't believe the amount of strength you showed"

"Well…sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right?"

"Right"

"What do we do now?" Brooke asked.

"We sleep" Lucas said, pulling her down on the bed. "It's been a long day"

A/N: Sorry it was so depressing lol! No more depressing stuff after this…review! And sorry its so short…I just don't wanna crowd chapters with other stuff when one event is the main focus…REVIEW!