Sunday, 2 days after the incident at Karen's. Brooke was at the café; Lucas was meeting her there in 10 minutes. She'd gotten the letter Lucas had sent to her, considered burning it, lit the corner on fire then put it out. Who would it hurt to read it? She glanced around her, making sure nobody was deliberately staring, not that they would be, but she was just checking. Her freshly manicured fingernail slipped under the fold of the envelope and slid along it, tearing open the envelope. She pulled the pieces of folded paper out of the envelope and dropped it to the table. Carefully, as if it were breakable, she unfolded the letter. An instant smile appeared on her face at his scribbled handwriting, such a guy.

Brooke,

I know it annoys you when I constantly quote your letters, but doesn't that say something? I read each one over and over; I don't want to miss a thing. So, here's my letter. One you can make fun of me for.

I don't know where to start when it comes to you. There's just so much I could say. I could give you one of those cheesy lines so you can make fun of me… let's see. I think I can do that. In your eye's I see all I see all I need, everything you are is everything to me. Cheesy enough? I think so. Okay, serious time... not that that wasn't serious.

I love you, it's really that simple. I've never been so sure of anything in my life. I really believe that together we can make it through even though we have a knack for breaking each others hearts. At this point I really can't imagine my life without you in it, and when I do, life seems so boring. When you were in California, my body felt empty. My heart was with you in California.

There's this song by The Ataris called 'I Won't Spend another Night Alone.' There's a part of the song that goes, "You're comfort on my mind and you're with me all the time. And lot's of feelings I can't explain. I won't spend another night alone. Out of every girl I meet, no other can compete. I'd ditch 'em all for a night with you. I know you don't believe you mean this much to me but I promise that you do. If I had one wish this is what it would be: I'd ask you to spend all your time with me, that'd we'd be together forever." I listened to this song a lot while you were gone. I'd emailed you twice. I know you never got them; I kept on unsending them, what a handy AOL tool right? In those emails I sent you these song lyrics, and a little message just telling you how much I missed you and that I loved you.

I'm glad you're back Cheery. You're the one for me.

Lucas

"Is that a tear?" A male voice asked as Brooke placed the pieces of paper down on the table in front of her. Brooke coughed pathetically and smiled as she looked up at the voice. His hand touched her cheek, the pad of his thumb gliding across her face to wipe away the few tears.

"You're late," she managed to say as he sat down next to her in the booth.

"And you look absolutely gorgeous," Lucas replied with a smile.

Brooke rolled her eyes at his attempt of getting off the hook, "Where were you?"

"Game with Skills ran a little late," Lucas replied, "I see you read my letter."

"Yeah, it had a little fight with the lighter, but it came out alive."

Lucas smiled and kissed Brooke's forehead.

Brooke laughed, "I love you too… So I'm surprised you were allowed to come out and see me. You didn't get grounded?"

Luke shook his head, "Nah. She just told me to make sure we're careful. We don't need a repeat of sophomore year do we?"

Brooke shook her head, "Oh hell no."

"Exactly what I told her."

"So what'd you want to talk about? You said you had to tell me something, or was that you aren't grounded what you had to say?"

Lucas shook his head, "No. How about we discuss it over a couple burgers?"

Brooke scrunched her nose, "I'm not in the mood. But an ice cream sundae sounds oh so very wonderful."

Lucas smiled, "You got it Pretty Girl."

"Do you remember last year, when Dan had his heart attack?" Lucas asked as he bit down into his cheeseburger 20 minutes later. His mom had made him a burger while Lucas made Brooke her ideal sundae. Vanilla ice cream, 2 scoops instead of 3, chocolate syrup not hot fudge with rainbow sprinkles, no whipped cream and 2 cherries on the top was enough to make her happy.

Brooke plopped her spoon into her mouth and nodded as she pulled it out after eating the ice cream off it, "What about it?"

"Remember how Nathan, Keith and I all had to take those tests to see if we had the heart problem too?" Lucas asked refusing to look up at her. If he did he would chicken out. But being that they were together and happy, he had to tell her about his HCM. After all, she did have the right to know and the longer he waited the worse the outcome would be.

Brooke nodded again, "None of you had it." She scooped up more ice cream onto her spoon and ate it. "What's the point?" She asked placing a cherry in her mouth and pulling the stem off of it.

Lucas looked up and faced Brooke; he waited for her to stop chewing before he kissed her softly on the lips, "I love you."

Brooke gave him a confused smile, "Uh, I love you too… what's wrong Luke?"

He took in a deep breath, gathering up his courage, "When Keith threw out his negative results… I took them out of the trash and switched them with mine. My test results came back positive. I do have HCM."

Brooke dropped her spoon on the table, her mouth dropping open, "You lied."

Lucas shook his head, "No... Brooke. Well yes but I had a reason."

She quickly shook her head, "You lied to me, again. You promised no more lies."

"Dan was going to ruin me, my mom... Keith. I couldn't afford the cost of the medicine and neither could my mom. Dan was paying for them."

"I've got to go… Lucas let me out of the booth," Brooke demanded barely above a whisper as she tried to push him away from her.

"Brooke please," Lucas started, "Hear me out."

Her head shook for a few seconds, "Not now. I... I need to think. You have to let me go."

Lucas sighed, what could he do besides let her go? He started to slide from the booth; she barely allowed him the time to move, she was pushing him to get away.

"I'm sorry," he told her. 'One last try,' he thought. "Please Brooke. Just... just let me explain it to you."

Surprisingly, Brooke stopped her movements just as Lucas stood up and moved out of the way. Her brown eyes closed and she shook her head as a tear fell from the corner of her eye, "Later." Her head shook from side to side twice, "Not now."

"When?" Lucas asked helping her stand up from the booth.

"Whenever I decide I can look at you again," She started to walk away but turned and faced him again, "I'll call." With that said she pushed the door of the café open and walked out. She couldn't talk to him right now, no matter how badly she wanted to. His letter most definitely was right; they had a knack for hurting each other.

It's been 3 days, 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 43 seconds since she last saw Lucas. One thing was for sure, she missed him. Brooke had avoided him at all costs, ignoring him when she spoke to her, not answering calls or emails, even taking different routes in the hallway so she didn't have to see him.

"Read it Brooke or I'll force you to," Haley demanded as she gestured to the letter Lucas had given Brooke today at lunch. The two were sitting on the couch of their apartment.

"No Hales, I won't," Brooke replied giving the letter a cold glare.

"You leave me no choice," Haley said straddling Brooke's lap and leaning her weight down. She grabbed the letter and opened it. "Last chance, read it yourself or I read it to you and gain rights to make fun of you for the rest of your life."

Brooke snatched the letter from Haley, "Get off me I'll read it." She wiggled underneath Haley and pushed her off. She leaned her head on the arm of the couch and sighed turning her attention to his letter. Song lyrics. Typical. She didn't bother to read the lyrics and tossed the paper to the table, "It's a song. Not even a letter. What does it matter?"

Haley handed her another piece of paper she pulled from the envelope, "With a letter to go along."

Brooke took it and unfolded it.

Tell Haley to...

Brooke didn't bother finishing it. She handed it to Haley, "It's for you."

Haley nodded and took the paper quickly reading it. She stood up and went to the CD player below the TV in the living room. She pressed the power button, switched it to disc 4 and then to track 4 and pressed play, "Listen to it Brooke."

Brooke nodded, "Whatever."

Music pooled through the speakers accompanied by a distinct voice, one anyone could pick out. Phil Collins. Brooke was tempted to smile, but she didn't.

We had a life, we had a love,
But you don't know what you've got 'til you lose it
Well that was then and this is now
And I want you back
How many times do I have to say I'm sorry

How can something so good go so bad
How can something so right go so wrong
I don't know, I don't have all the answers
But I want you back
How many times can I say I'm sorry

You can run, and you can hide
But I'm not leaving less you come with me
We've had our problems but I'm on your side
You're all I need, please believe in me

I only wanted someone to love
But something happened on the way to heaven
It got a hold of me and wouldn't let go
And I want you back
How many times do I have to say I'm sorry

You can run...


They say you can't take it with you
When you go
And I believe it
But taking what I've got or being
Here with you, you know
I'd rather leave it

You can run…

By the time the song was over tears were pouring down Brooke's cheeks. She wanted him too, no matter how bad he hurt her. The truth was, at least according to her, that no matter what happens they were meant to be together and fighting it would just be stupid. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and stood up just as she heard Haley speaking.

"No... Oh my god, Nathan are you kidding me? Please say you're kidding," Haley's panicked voice asked her cell phone. There was a pause, "No, she's here I'll tell her. Thanks Nathan. We'll be there as soon as possible." She hung up her cell phone.

"What's wrong?" Brooke asked from the doorway to their bedroom. She leaned against the doorframe.

"Lucas-," Haley began before being cut off by Brooke.

"I was just going to go see him. I was-," Brooke said with a smile.

"No, Brooke… Lucas- he's in the hospital."

The words felt like sharp knives stabbing her continuously in the heart. Her breath was caught in her throat, like someone just knocked the wind out of her. Not again, not the hospital again.

"It's his heart," Haley said as she walked towards Brooke. She collapsed into her arms, tears falling from her eyes again, this time out of sorrow. Haley held onto Brooke tightly, "C'mon, hold your own weight a little… We'll get over to the hospital."

Brooke nodded and tried to gather herself together, leaning a bit of her weight on Haley, Haley doing the same to Brooke. The two girls headed out of the apartment, off to see the man they both loved, each in different ways.

Note: I noticed that most people want it to be Pathan and Jaley but I forgot that in order for this story to work out the way I'd initially planned it would HAVE to be Naley and Jeyton. So, in compensation for this my other story will become Brucas, Jaley and Pathan. I'm so sorry.