A/N: I am so completely sorry that this chapter took me so long! I got stuck a little bit and then I didn't watch a lot of season two, so I was out of this fandom for a bit. Now I have season one on DVD, so that pulled me right back in and here I am! I promise not to take so long on the next chapter, lol. Enjoy and, as always, please review.

Chapter Seven

Haley had a joyful reunion with her parents and sister and then went to the hospital, where she waited in the ER with Karen and Keith until word came about Lucas. Dan and Deb stood across the chaotic room, Dan rudely trying to answers about Nathan. The room was crowded with parents waiting for or trying to find out about their children. This created more noise than should have been in a hospital, and the pandemonium only added to everyone's confusion.

The teen couldn't stop staring at her best friend's hoodie. She kept telling herself that he'd been alive when he and Nathan were found. But the amount of blood on the sweatshirt testified to a serious injury, and if he'd been wearing it when he got shot then his injury must have been awful.

She tried to picture the two brothers hiding together and wondered just how that had happened. Anything was possible in a crisis, she knew, and the truth was she probably didn't want to know the exact details of how they'd ended up wherever it was they'd been hiding.

Twenty minutes after they'd arrived at the hospital, a doctor finally came out to talk to Karen. "Your son will be fine," the doctor said. "He has a concussion and a slight touch of pneumonia, though, so we will be keeping him here for a few days."

Haley let out her breath and felt like crying in relief. Karen, though relieved, looked shocked. "But… his sweater was completely covered in blood," she said in confusion.

The doctor shook her head slightly. "His head was grazed by a bullet, but he didn't lose a significant amount of blood. It must have been somebody else's blood."

Karen took a minute to ponder that and looked to Keith. Haley connected the dots sooner. "It's Nathan's blood," she said in a near whisper, suddenly feeling like she could faint. Keith put an arm around her shoulders, keeping her upright. Karen reached out for her hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"I'm going to go see Lucas," Karen said, lightly touching Keith's arm.

Keith nodded but said he would join her in a minute. "I'm going to go find out what the word is on Nathan." He looked to Haley. "Come on," he said as he led her over to Dan and Deb.

"How should I know?" Dan snapped when asked about Nathan. "I'm only the boy's father; they won't tell me anything."

Deb stepped up beside her husband, looking exasperated. "How is Lucas? Is he all right?"

"Yeah, he'll be okay," Keith replied and told her what the doctor had said, but neither he nor Haley mentioned the sweatshirt. Deb looked genuinely happy to hear the news and looked to her husband, but he looking around for a nurse.

"What is taking so long?" he yelled as soon as he saw a nurse approaching. "I just want to know what's going on with my son!"

The nurse looked stunned and she looked around the jam-packed room that was filled panicked and upset people. "Sir, as you can see we have a lot of patients here right now. As soon as any information about your son is—"

"That's just not good enough," Dan interrupted. Deb jumped as he started yelling again. "You'd better go find out something, or I—"

"Dan, threatening is not helping," his wife cut in. She looked at the nurse. "I—we understand," she said, giving a pointed look to her husband, "that you're very busy but do you think you could find someone who knows about our son? His name is Nathan Scott. I would really appreciate it."

Looking slightly dumbfounded and unsure, the nurse hesitantly said she would try to find out something.

Haley turned to Keith. "You can go see Lucas. I'll find you when we hear something."

"No, I'm sure they're getting ready to move Lucas out of the ER; they need all the room here they can get," Keith answered, looking around. "I don't want to add to the chaos," he added, looking at Dan.

A few minutes later, the nurse Dan had yelled at returned with a doctor. "Mr. and Mrs. Scott?" the doctor addressed Nathan's parents. "I'm sorry you've had to wait so long."

"How's my son?" Deb asked as she and the others stared at the doctor anxiously.

"He received a bullet to his thigh, which wasn't originally life-threatening, but he has lost a lot of blood and he was starting to go into shock when he got here. Now that we've got him stabilized we'll need to get him into surgery as soon as possible."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Dan demanded.

"I just need a few consent forms signed—"

"He doesn't need them, he's legally on his own," Dan barked. "So you get my son into surgery now!"

Haley followed Dan and Deb into the surgery unit waiting room and was surprised to see Peyton sitting on a couch, staring in front of her in shock. This waiting room was also full; all the seats were taken and many people were leaning against walls and chairs. Haley kneeled down in front of her friend, all her weight on the balls of her feet, and lightly touched Peyton's knee.

"Peyton?"

The blonde jumped, startled. Haley could tell she had zoned out and hadn't noticed her.

"Peyton, what are you doing here? Who are you waiting for?"

"Brooke," the cheerleader choked out. "But the doctor came out a few minutes ago… Brooke's mom is seeing her right now."

"So… She made it out of surgery?" Haley asked hopefully.

"Uh, yeah, she did. But… She's in really bad shape," Peyton replied, the beginnings of tears forming in her blue eyes. She looked at Haley again and wiped her eyes. "Who are you here for?" she asked as if suddenly realizing.

"Nathan. Well, Lucas is downstairs in the ER, but he'll be okay."

Peyton looked alarmed at Haley's reply. "Lucas and Nathan are both here?"

"Yeah, but like I said, Peyton, Lucas is going to be okay. He'll be good as new in a week."

"And Nathan?"

"He was just taken into surgery," Haley responded, looking down at the ground.

"Right. Which brings you up here with Dan and Deb. Hello, Peyton."

Haley nodded. "It scares me," she said suddenly. "I… I think I'm in love with him."

"Wow," was Peyton's only response.

"I know. I haven't even told him yet."

Peyton nodded. "I went so long with these pent up feelings for Lucas. Now look what's happened." She sniffled. "Brooke hasn't even forgiven me. I haven't been able to make things right with us yet."

Haley dropped her knees down to the floor and hugged Peyton tightly. Right now there was nothing she could say that might not turn out to be a lie.

Lucas watched the sun set from his hospital room, feeling like it hadn't been that long since the last time he was here. But so much had changed since the car accident that it could have been years. An IV ran into his arm but Lucas had specifically requested not to be given anything that would make him fall asleep. The nurse had looked chagrined at that but went along with it.

"You should get some sleep," Karen told him from the couch at the end of the room, pulling his attention to her. "You know I'll wake you if I hear anything about any of your friends."

He shook his head. "I can't sleep," the basketball player disagreed.

"They have drugs for that here."

"Mom, you know what I mean. I want to be awake when Nathan comes out of surgery." He paused. "Has Keith come back with news yet?"

"Have you seen him here?" Karen asked, then shook her head. She paused for a moment, and then regarded her son seriously. "You and Nathan were hiding together at the school, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was running out of the cafeteria and I saw him on the ground." The teen looked anguished at the memory. "He actually told me to leave him because he'd slow me down."

Karen walked over to the bed and took a seat, placing her hand on her son's arm. "I'm so glad you made it out. I'm so happy you're all right."

Lucas watched tears stroll down her cheeks and felt his own tears come, only for a different reason.

"Oh, honey," Karen whispered and embraced her son. This day would stay with them both for a long time.

Karen and Keith decided to go down to the cafeteria when Haley and Peyton came into Lucas' room. He immediately asked about Nathan.

"Still in surgery," Haley replied quietly. "We got sick of waiting with everyone so we decided to drop in on you. How are you doing?"

"Not so good," he admitted honestly as Haley grabbed his hand.

Peyton stood on the other side of the bed. "That makes all of us," she said.

"Have you guys talked to Mouth or Skills… or anyone else?"

Peyton shook her head. "I sat trying to call Nathan for a long time." She paused. "Then Brooke's mom called me." She explained about Brooke getting shot.

"She made it through surgery all right," she said softly. "But she's still in critical condition. The bullet messed her up pretty bad."

Lucas stared at the wall, almost feeling numb to the news after everything that had happened. He wished he could have been there for her, helped her. In spite of all that happened, he cared about her a lot and wished they had been friends again.

"I… I hope she'll be okay," he whispered finally, still staring at the wall. "I couldn't stand it if she wasn't."

"Me either," Peyton replied.

Lucas turned to Haley. "You don't know anything about any of the guys, do you?"

"Tim's okay. He went home with his parents, but now he's upstairs with Dan and Deb. Everyone else on the team made it out according to him. The only people he didn't see after getting out of the school were you, Nathan and Jake."

"Jake?" Peyton exclaimed.

"Yeah… I haven't been able to determine if he got out or not yet. The news stations still keep changing their death counts, and no names have been released…" She trailed off noticing the anguished expressions on both her friends' faces, realizing that was not the best place to go.

"But he's not…" Peyton began, but the words caught in her throat.

"I don't know," Haley said. "Tim doesn't know, either. But so many people are either here or at home with their families. He could turn up. It's highly likely that he will."

Lucas interjected. "I…I don't think he will," he said, looking as upset as he sounded.

The girls looked at him in question, both wide-eyed. "What do you mean?" Peyton asked.

"I saw him... in the cafeteria," Lucas said quietly, looking at Peyton with anguish. "I was running out of the cafeteria when… when the guns were going off." He shuddered as he said those words. "I saw Nathan lying under the table where the team had been sitting at, and he wasn't getting up… So I ran over there to get him and Jake was on the floor, too. He… he'd been shot in the head, and I couldn't take them both…."

"So you left him there," Peyton finished for him. Her mouth opened a little bit and she looked away for a minute. When she looked back at Lucas, she said, "It's okay, Lucas. You did the right thing." She didn't say anything but turned for the door and left, crying silently.

TBC